serenity
Americannoun
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serenities
plural
-
the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness.
- Synonyms:
- peace, peacefulness, calm, composure
- Antonyms:
- agitation
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(usually initial capital letter) a title of honor, respect, or reverence, used in speaking of or to certain members of royalty (usually preceded by his, your, etc.).
noun
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the state or quality of being serene
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(often capital) a title of honour used of certain royal personages: preceded by his, her, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of serenity
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English serenite, from Latin serēnitās; see serene ( def. ), -ity ( def. )
Explanation
The goal of meditation is to reach a state of serenity, when your mind is still and perfectly calm. Use serenity to mean the quality or state of being calm and peaceful. It is hard to believe that the ocean, whipped by winds during a storm, can ever return to a state of serenity, where its surface looks as smooth as glass. And if you're babysitting your neighbor's rowdy triplets, you might long for the serenity of your quiet bedroom. Serenity is from the Latin serenus, meaning "calm or peaceful," plus the English suffix -ity, meaning "quality or state of."
Vocabulary lists containing serenity
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 1
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100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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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.
See Examples For:
“A carefully curated palette of wood, stone, water, and light blurs the boundaries between indoors and out, creating an atmosphere of serenity and effortless connection to the landscape.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
On the album’s back half, a few unabashedly beautiful songs stand out like rock formations rising from the desert floor—especially “Deep Time,” which offers a shot of serenity amid all the slow-moving menace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
As she’s gotten older, the Oscar winner has become more comfortable doing less in her performances, allowing for a fragile serenity that is belied by the anguish and anxiety roiling underneath.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Rollins recalled feeling a sort of serenity as he returned to New York, finding a new empathy in the metropolis.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
While driving through Pennsylvania he had simply happened upon a beautiful lake, pulled over, and taken an impromptu fishing vacation in perfect serenity.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
For the serenities of the countess, Katharine Cornell's personal graciousness is more in accord.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is particularly effective with modern music, with which Bernstein has had consistent success, and whose complex rhythms he feels perhaps more deeply than he feels the serenities of the classics.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was possible for whole minutes of time, especially between sleeping and waking, to forget the complications of the situation and to bask in the blissful warmth of its serenities.
From We Three by Henry Hutt
His God, for a time at least, was a God of storms and horrors as well as of serenities and perfections.
From The "Genius" by Theodore Dreiser
As he spoke, he remembered that night of the eclipse—oh, those moon-washed depths, those stupendous serenities of Law and Beauty which, together, are Truth!
From The Vehement Flame by Margaret Wade Campbell Deland
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.
