Wordwyrt

seriousness

/ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/SIH-ree-uh-snuhs
/ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/SIH-ree-uh-snuhs

Meaningthe state or quality of being grave or earnest

Common meaning: the state or quality of being serious

Journey through time

  1. Latinseriosus‘serious’source
  2. Old Frenchserieux‘earnest’source
  3. Englishserious‘solemn or needing careful thought’
  4. Englishformed in English from seriousseriousness‘the state or quality of being serious’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: the state or quality of being grave or earnest. It can be inferred from any of: serious.

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from serious + -ness (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Source words

  • seriosus Latin · source word “serious”

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