earnest
UK/ˈɜː.nɪst//ˈɝ.nɪst/
earnest noun: gravity; serious purpose; earnestness. Also the second-person singular simple present indicative of earn.
Noun (1)
earnest (uncountable)
- Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
- Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...
- That high All-Seer which I dallied with / Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head / And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)
Verb
earnest (third-person singular simple present earnests, present participle earnesting, simple past and past participle earnested)
Adjective
earnest (comparative earnester or more earnest, superlative earnestest or most earnest)
- Serious, sincere, ingenuous.
- Focused in the pursuit of an objective; honestly eager to obtain or do.
- earnest prayers
- Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.
- earnest attention
- Synonyms:
- intensive, centered, concentrated, focused, inspissated, telic, intent
- Possessing or characterised by seriousness.
- an earnest disposition
- Synonyms:
- grave, austere, frightful, demure, serious, grievous, lack-laughter, thoughtful, sad, sage
- Strenuous; diligent.
- earnest efforts
- Synonyms:
- painstaking, assiduous, diligent, dogged, hardworking, industrious, notable, sedulous, studious, worksome
- Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.
- Synonyms:
- historic, big, central, consequential, critical, crucial, epochful, essential, extraordinary, fateful
Noun (2)
earnest (plural earnests)
- A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.
- Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 5:5
- As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]1624, John Donne, “19. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 508
Proper noun capitalized: Earnest
Earnest
- A male given name from the Germanic languages, of occasional usage, variant of Ernest.
Also used as
earnest is also the second-person singular simple present indicative of earn.
earnest meaning in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian
earnest in Sanskrit
- ardent
- उशिज् uśij
earnest in Arabic
- important, serious
- جَدِّي jaddī, جَادّ jādd
- pledge
- عَرْبُون ʕarbūn
earnest in Persian
- pledge
- اربون arbun
Examples of earnest in a sentence
- The vanity is at once encouraged and gratified; while the present small triumph is too readily taken as earnest for a greater one.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 152–153:
- The farmer agreed, and in the evening the Dwarf brought him a sack of wheat as an earnest.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 225:
- But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 365:
Synonyms of earnest
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of earnest
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | earnests |
| present participle | earnesting |
| past participle | earnested |
| past | earnested |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | earnester |
| comparative | more earnest |
| superlative | earnestest |
| superlative | most earnest |
| Noun | |
| plural | earnests |
Origin of earnest
From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”). Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌽𐌹𐌱𐌰 (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”). The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, serious”), from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian ernste (“earnest”), Middle Low German ernest, ernst (“serious, earnest”), German ernst (“serious, earnest”).
Uncertain; apparently related to erres. Compare also arles.
From earn + -est.
Words formed from earnest
Phrases with earnest
Questions about earnest
- What does earnest mean?
- Earnest means gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
- What is earnest in Sanskrit?
- Earnest in Sanskrit is उशिज् (uśij). See Earnest meaning in Sanskrit.
- How do you use earnest in a sentence?
- The vanity is at once encouraged and gratified; while the present small triumph is too readily taken as earnest for a greater one.
- What part of speech is earnest?
- Earnest can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce earnest?
- Earnest is pronounced /ˈɝ.nɪst/ (US).
- What is the plural of earnest?
- The plural of earnest is earnests.
Words near earnest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: earnest (page history and authors); Earnest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-earnest.ogg.
Cite this entry: “earnest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/earnest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.