be in earnest
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.
Those imams who still counsel against jihadist terrorism, says Kepel, may be in earnest.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Washington, Reagan Administration officials stressed that the Soviet leader's reform efforts seem to be in earnest, and avoided dashing hopes for better U.S.-Soviet ties.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Well, I know you are not given to joking, and this would certainly be an inconceivably bad joke; but it is almost more inconceivable that you should be in earnest."
From That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3 by Trollope, Frances Eleanor
Men worth their salt make their opportunities, but if they don't even take them when they are ready-made to their hand, they cannot be in earnest.
From Diana Tempest, Volume III (of 3) by Cholmondeley, Mary
The certainty that the Curia would be in earnest about it gave them somewhat more energy than they had shown in the debate on the Little Catechism.
From Letters From Rome on the Council by D?llinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von
