serious
/ˈsɪɹ.i.əs//ˈsɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
serious adjective: without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.
Adjective
serious (comparative more serious, superlative most serious)
- Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.
- deadly serious
- It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.
- Important; weighty; not insignificant.
- This is a serious problem. We'll need our best experts.
- Synonyms:
- desperate
- Really 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?
- Committed.
Adverb
serious (not comparable)
serious meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
serious in Hindi
- without humor or expression of happiness
- गंभीर gambhīr
serious in Tamil
- முதன்மையான, கடுமையான, தீவிரமான
serious in Marathi
- serious
- गंभीर gambhīr
serious in Urdu
- serious, grave
- گمبھیر gambhīr, گنبھیر gãmbhīr
- serious, solemn
- مقطع muqatta'
More languagesFewer languages
- serious in Bengali
- গুরুত্বপূর্ণ guruttopurno
- serious in Telugu
- తీవ్రమైన, తీవ్రమైనది
- serious in Malayalam
- ഗുരുതര gurutara
- serious in Kannada
- ಸಕತ್ sakat
- serious in Punjabi
- ਕਾਰੀ kārī, ਦੀਰਘ dīragh
- serious in Gujarati
- ભારે bhāre
- serious in Odia
- ଗମ୍ଭୀର
- serious in Sanskrit
- गुरु guru
- serious in Nepali
- गम्भीर
- serious in Tagalog
- malma
- serious in Arabic
- جِدِّيّ jiddiyy, جَدِّيّ jaddiyy, جَادّ jādd
- serious in Malay
- serius
- serious in Indonesian
- serius
- serious in Persian
- جدی jeddi
- serious in Thai
- เคร่งขรึม krêng-krʉ̌m, เคร่งเครียด krêng-krîiat, ซีเรียส sii-rîiat, จริงจัง jing-jang
- serious in Vietnamese
- nghiêm trọng
Examples of serious in a sentence
- The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.
- Such much-needed changes to the exam format might have a serious effect on candidates' performance.
- Since I started doing squats, I've built up some serious cake.
Synonyms of serious
13 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of serious
| comparative | more serious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most serious |
Origin of serious
From Middle English seryows, from Old French serieux, from Medieval Latin sēriōsus, an extension of Latin sērius (“grave, earnest, serious”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”). (If this root is correct, cognate with German schwer (“heavy, difficult, severe”), Old English swǣr (“heavy, grave, grievous”). More at swear, sweer. However, see sērius for an alternative derivation of the Latin.)
Words formed from serious
Phrases with serious
Words that rhyme with serious
Questions about serious
- What does serious mean?
- Serious means without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.
- What is serious in Hindi?
- Serious in Hindi is गंभीर (gambhīr). See Serious meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is serious?
- Serious can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce serious?
- Serious is pronounced /ˈsɪə̯.ɹi.əs/ (UK).
Words near serious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: serious (page history and authors); serious (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); गंभीर (Marathi) (page history and authors); مقطع (Urdu) (page history and authors); গুরুত্বপূর্ণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); serious (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഗുരുതര (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಸಕತ್ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਕਾਰੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ભારે (Gujarati) (page history and authors); serious (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); serious (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-serious.wav, en-us-serious.ogg.
Cite this entry: “serious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/serious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.