seriousness

noun

Definition of seriousnessnext
as in intentness
a mental state free of jesting or trifling we knew from the doctor's seriousness that she didn't have good news

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of seriousness The food obsessions, fears and even nightmares went away, but so too did Jasper’s grasp of the seriousness of his condition. — Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026 Mandell never let his artistic seriousness stand in the way of his silliness. — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026 However, the students who spoke with CBS Colorado said the alerts did not adequately explain the seriousness of the situation. — Christa Swanson, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 For finance leaders, that means treating institutional knowledge with the same seriousness as any other proprietary asset. — Dean Leavitt, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026 This type of leader isn’t likely to emerge in a political culture that rewards antics and showmanship and punishes seriousness and integrity. — Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 12 Oct. 2026 In all seriousness, there’s a very cool opportunity right now to watch the entire Godfather trilogy on Prime Video, including the superior recent cut of the third film. — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026 By early 2023, in response to these trends, NATO stepped up the seriousness and urgency of its discussions on Russian hybrid activity. — Julianne Smith, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2026 Soldiers and family members have told The Associated Press of a failure to recognize the seriousness of injuries, a poor plan to get the wounded to hospitals and red tape that has hindered follow-up care. — Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for seriousness
  1. gravity
  2. earnestness
  3. solemnity
Noun
  • No bigger than a microwave oven, Idefix will plop onto Phobos by itself, bouncing for several minutes before coming to a halt in the moon's extraordinarily low gravity.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2026
  • At the time, Rastinejad and her colleagues wondered whether a black hole’s gravity had ripped up a companion neutron star, as if unseen godly hands had pulled it apart like dough.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of gravity
Noun
  • Karen is newly sober, newly released, and seemingly determined to approach this chapter of her life with an earnestness that the rest of the cast may not be emotionally equipped to accommodate.
    — Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Elizabeth Strout illustrates a kind man with an endearing earnestness about him who struggles with the fact that the world is not so simple anymore.
    — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of earnestness
Noun
  • Adding to the solemnity of the occasion was a string quartet that played two slow movements from Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.
    — Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2026
  • What’s also obvious from Mel’s photography is the solemnity of these places and the humanity of those living and working within them.
    — Stephanie Hanes, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of solemnity

Browse Nearby Words

serious-mindedness
seriousness
sermon
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Seriousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/seriousness. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of jilt

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All