in earnest
Idioms-
With purposeful or sincere intent, as in We settled down to study in earnest . [c. a.d. 1000]
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Also, in dead earnest . Serious, determined, as in We thought he was joking, but he was in earnest , or I'm in dead earnest about selling the business . In the variant, from the late 1800s, dead means “completely” or “thoroughly” and is used purely for emphasis. [c. a.d. 1000]
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.
Both Anthropic and OpenAI say they take safety seriously and their calls for regulation are in earnest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
They even put down $9,000 in earnest money.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
The arm-wrestling will kick off in earnest at a Brussels summit in October, with a likely second meeting in November, before a grand finale in December when leaders will look to seal the deal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Garden installation began in pieces in 2022 and in earnest in early 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
As if in reply, the wind gusted coldly and the rain began to beat down in earnest.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
