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Showing results for earnest. Search instead for ernes.
Definitions
Trivia Time
Who popularized the word earnest in the play The Importance of Being Earnest?

earnest

[ur-nist] / ˈɜr nɪst /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Dennis Haskins, known for playing the earnest and beloved Principal Richard Belding on ‘Saved by the Bell,’ has died.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

So far, the bulk of AI-related debt issuance has been funded in the U.S. investment-grade corporate-bond market since the deluge began in earnest about a year ago.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

The war began in earnest on March 20, 2003, with comprehensive air and ground offensives as coalition troops crossed into Iraq.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

It was the kind of unabashedly earnest moment that could easily have tipped into awkwardness, but many in the room seemed to embrace it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

Barack was too earnest, too full of valiant plans, in my opinion, to abide by the hardscrabble, drag-it-out rancor that went on inside the domed capitol downstate in Springfield.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama




Vocabulary lists containing earnest


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