From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishearnestear‧nest1 /ˈɜːnɪst $ ˈɜːr-/ ●○○ adjective SERIOUS/NOT JOKINGvery serious and sincere a rather earnest young man Matthews was in earnest conversation with a young girl. an earnest desire to offer something useful to societyearnest expression/look/voice etcearnest attempt/effort etc► see thesaurus at serious —earnestly adverb earnestly discussing politics —earnestness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
earnest• The debate was prolonged and earnest.• There was some earnest grunting and scraping, but no upward progress.• Friends described Jackson as an earnest, hard-working young man.• They belonged to that earnest minority among the privileged, devoted to plain-living and high-thinking.• a group of earnest musicians dressed completely in black• The other night we had quite an earnest talk.• It is my earnest wish that rugby continues to fulfil this role.• One earnest young man asked De Mille about the philosophical meaning of his films.in earnest conversation• Men huddled together in groups, deep in earnest conversations; it was here the real trading was done.• Bobby sighed and turned to the chairman but he was in earnest conversation with a ponderous constable.• I looked round and saw my master in earnest conversation with the monk.earnestearnest2 noun 1 → in earnest2 → be in earnestOrigin earnest1 Old English eornost 