seriousness
/ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.56 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”"
- "‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?"
- "Though Bane’s sing-song voice gives his pronouncements a funny lilt, he doesn’t have any of the Joker’s deranged wit, and Nolan isn’t interested in undercutting his seriousness for the sake of a breezier entertainment."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Italic *sēros Latin sērus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius ? Proto-Indo-European *swer- Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *swerjos? Latin sērius Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Medieval Latin sēriōsus Old French serieuxbor. Middle English seryows English serious Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English seriousness From serious + -ness.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/
- British English: /ˈsɪəɹiəsnəs/