earnestly
adverb
Simple meaning
In a serious way.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
urnuhstleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɝnəstli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In an earnest manner; being very sincere; putting forth genuine effort.
In a serious manner
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In an earnest manner; being very sincere; putting forth genuine effort.
Used this way, earnestly is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Honest and open
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use earnestly
- “Talking earnestly with his son.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Something of value given by one person to another to bind a contract.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: in an earnest manner
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.