earnest.

Showing sincere, serious commitment rather than playfulness or pretense.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• earnest appeal
• earnest effort

On the page

The earnest appeal quieted the room.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more earnest; superlative most earnest when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, description. Commonness: moderately common.