Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use serious in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb

Serious means without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition. Example: “It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.”

Examples of serious by meaning

adjectiveWithout humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.

  • It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.

adjectiveImportant; weighty; not insignificant.

  • This is a serious problem. We'll need our best experts.

adjectiveReally intending what is said (or planned, etc); in earnest; not jocular or deceiving.

  • After all these years, we're finally getting serious attention.
  • He says he wants to buy the team, but is he serious?
  • I was being deadly serious when I made that suggestion.

adverbSeriously, in a serious manner (most often heard in take or mean serious).

  • The only time I walk out on singin' is when there's muckin' about and youse don't take it serious.1957, Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Sydney: Fontana Books, published 1974, page 68

More sentences with serious

  • The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.From the entry buff
  • Such much-needed changes to the exam format might have a serious effect on candidates' performance.From the entry change
  • Since I started doing squats, I've built up some serious cake.From the entry cake
  • I knew he was serious when he flashed a Bloods sign.From the entry flash
  • The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.From the entry mug
  • I advise you to take some painkillers for the headache, it's probably nothing serious.From the entry headache
  • The comedian's jokes helped leaven the atmosphere during the serious meeting.From the entry leaven
  • They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are becoming “increasingly serious” for China.From the entry glacier
  • Dumping waste in the river will have serious implications for the environment.From the entry implication
  • She gave $10 weekly to the poor as alms, in an era when $10 was serious money.From the entry alms
  • Do not bother buying crummy knives if you are serious about cooking.From the entry crummy
  • Do not settle for shoddy knives if you are serious about cooking.From the entry shoddy
  • We sailed full and by for quite a while before getting down to serious navigation.From the entry full and by
  • You realize this little stunt of yours is going to have some pretty serious repercussions.From the entry repercussion
  • You’d better do some serious soul-searching before you decide to leave her.From the entry soul-searching
  • There was a moment of ecchi for comic relief in the otherwise serious story.From the entry ecchi
  • The nurse checked him over to be sure he didn't have any serious injuries.From the entry check over
  • The government should implement this policy to cope with this serious problem.From the entry cope with
  • We're going to have to do some serious sciencing to get this rover moving again.From the entry sciencing
  • She's been making some serious bank since she got that new gig.From the entry make bank
  • I thought it was a joke, but they were genayatollah serious.From the entry genayatollah
  • Are you serious, or is this a bit?From the entry bit
  • She spent some serious coin on that car!From the entry coin
  • In other areas, glacier loss creates serious risk of a dry period across the Third Pole, Wang said.From the entry loss
  • I view it as a serious breach of trust.From the entry view
  • Whoa, that guy is rocking some serious heat.From the entry heat
  • I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious.From the entry jest
  • Minor injuries such as cuts and abrasions are cleaned and bandaged on site; serious injuries require an ambulance call.From the entry injury
  • Her trend is to dump boyfriends when it gets serious.From the entry trend
  • When an argument gets heated, it can often be difficult to figure out who's serious and who's just trolling.From the entry troll
  • The elections need to undergo a serious reform.From the entry reform
  • Sooner or later he'll succeed in doing some serious mischief.From the entry mischief
  • He is far too nonchalant about such a serious matter.From the entry nonchalant
  • Alcoholism can lead to serious health problems.From the entry alcoholism

Meaning of serious

  1. adjective Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.
  2. adjective Important; weighty; not insignificant.
  3. adjective Really intending what is said (or planned, etc); in earnest; not jocular or deceiving.

Full definition of serious

Questions about serious in a sentence

How do you use serious in a sentence?
Serious is used as an adjective and adverb. For example: “It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.”
What is a short sentence with serious?
“Alcoholism can lead to serious health problems.”
What does serious mean?
Serious means without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: serious (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use serious in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/serious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.