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What is "earnest"

Crossword clues for earnest

earnest
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
earnest
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
in deadly earnest (=completely serious)
▪ He was in deadly earnest.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
most
▪ Any struggle rooted in politicized and grass-roots mobilization is bound to overshadow even the most earnest efforts of politically inhibited endeavors.
▪ The meal in front of them is the topic of their most earnest conversation.
■ NOUN
attempt
▪ An earnest attempt at the Wilde life.
conversation
▪ The meal in front of them is the topic of their most earnest conversation.
▪ I looked round and saw my master in earnest conversation with the monk.
▪ Bobby sighed and turned to the chairman but he was in earnest conversation with a ponderous constable.
desire
▪ This provides a firm basis for the new interest in evaluation and an earnest desire for its continued growth.
▪ She talked about the language for some time, seemingly against her better judgment, drawn by his earnest desire to learn.
▪ And yet, despite our earnest desire for happiness, we persist in disregarding the spiritual depths of ourselves.
effort
▪ Under duress, it regularly exercises this will to sabotage the earnest efforts of its well-intentioned host.
▪ Any struggle rooted in politicized and grass-roots mobilization is bound to overshadow even the most earnest efforts of politically inhibited endeavors.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a group of earnest musicians dressed completely in black
▪ Friends described Jackson as an earnest, hard-working young man.
▪ One earnest young man asked De Mille about the philosophical meaning of his films.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It is my earnest wish that rugby continues to fulfil this role.
▪ The debate was prolonged and earnest.
▪ The other night we had quite an earnest talk.
▪ There was some earnest grunting and scraping, but no upward progress.
▪ They belonged to that earnest minority among the privileged, devoted to plain-living and high-thinking.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Earnest

Earnest \Ear"nest\, a.

  1. Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain or do; zealous with sincerity; with hearty endeavor; heartfelt; fervent; hearty; -- used in a good sense; as, earnest prayers.

    An earnest advocate to plead for him.
    --Shak.

  2. Intent; fixed closely; as, earnest attention.

  3. Serious; important. [Obs.]

    They whom earnest lets do often hinder.
    --Hooker.

    Syn: Eager; warm; zealous; ardent; animated; importunate; fervent; sincere; serious; hearty; urgent. See Eager.

Earnest

Earnest \Ear"nest\, v. t. To use in earnest. [R.]

To earnest them [our arms] with men.
--Pastor Fido (1602).

Earnest

Earnest \Ear"nest\, n. [Prob. corrupted fr. F. arrhes, L. arra, arrha, arrhabo, Gr. 'arrabw`n, of Semitic origin, cf. Heb. [=e]r[=a]v[=o]n; or perh. fr. W. ernes, akin to Gael. earlas, perh. fr. L. arra. Cf. Arles, Earles penny.]

  1. Something given, or a part paid beforehand, as a pledge; pledge; handsel; a token of what is to come.

    Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
    --2 Cor. i. 2

  2. And from his coffers Received the golden earnest of our death.
    --Shak.

    2. (Law) Something of value given by the buyer to the seller, by way of token or pledge, to bind the bargain and prove the sale.
    --Kent. Ayliffe. Benjamin.

    Earnest money (Law), money paid as earnest, to bind a bargain or to ratify and prove a sale.

    Syn: Earnest, Pledge.

    Usage: These words are here compared as used in their figurative sense. Earnest is not so strong as pledge. An earnest, like first fruits, gives assurance, or at least a high probability, that more is coming of the same kind; a pledge, like money deposited, affords security and ground of reliance for the future. Washington gave earnest of his talent as commander by saving his troops after Braddock's defeat; his fortitude and that of his soldiers during the winter at Valley Forge might rightly be considered a pledge of their ultimate triumph.

Earnest

Earnest \Ear"nest\ ([~e]r"n[e^]st), n. [AS. eornost, eornest; akin to OHG. ernust, G. ernst; cf. Icel. orrosta battle, perh. akin to Gr. 'orny`nai to excite, L. oriri to rise.] Seriousness; reality; fixed determination; eagerness; intentness.

Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.
--Sir P. Sidney.

And given in earnest what I begged in jest.
--Shak.

In earnest, serious; seriously; not in jest; earnestly.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
earnest

from Old English eornoste (adj.) "zealous, serious," or from Old English noun eornost "seriousness, serious intent" (surviving only in the phrase in earnest), from Proto-Germanic *er-n-os-ti- (cognates: Old Saxon ernust, Old Frisian ernst, Old High German arnust "seriousness, firmness, struggle," German Ernst "seriousness;" Gothic arniba "safely, securely;" Old Norse ern "able, vigorous," jarna "fight, combat"), perhaps from PIE root *er- (1) "to move, set in motion." The proper name Ernest (literally "resolute") is from the same root. Related: Earnestness.

earnest

"portion of something given or done in advance as a pledge," early 15c., with excrescent -t- (perhaps from influence of the other earnest), from Middle English ernes (c.1200), "a pledge or promise;" often "a foretaste of what is to follow;" also (early 13c.) "sum of money as a pledge to secure a purchase or bind a bargain (earnest-money); from Old French erres and directly from Latin arra, probably from Phoenician or another Semitic language (compare Hebrew 'eravon "a pledge"). Sometimes in Middle English as erness, suggesting it was perceived as er "early" + -ness.

Wiktionary
earnest

n. (given name male from=Germanic), an occasional spelling variant of Ernest.

Related phrases:
WordNet
earnest

  1. adj. characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions; "both sides were deeply in earnest, even passionate"; "an entirely sincere and cruel tyrant"; "a film with a solemn social message" [syn: in earnest(p), sincere, solemn]

  2. earnest; "one's dearest wish"; "devout wishes for their success"; "heartfelt condolences" [syn: dear, devout, heartfelt]

  3. not distracted by anything unrelated to the goal [syn: businesslike]

earnest

n. something of value given by one person to another to bind a contract

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Earnest

Earnest may refer to:

People:

  • Earnest Byner (born 1962), former National Football League (NFL) running back
  • Charles Earnest Moody (1891–1977), American gospel song writer and performer
  • Earnest Elmo Calkins (1868–1964), early advertising innovator
  • Earnest Graham (born 1980), NFL running back
  • Earnest Gray (born 1957), former NFL wide receiver
  • Earnest Hooton (1887–1954), American physical anthropologist
  • Earnest Jackson (born 1959), former NFL running back
  • Earnest Mudzengi, Zimbabwean politician
  • Earnest Rhone (born 1953), former NFL linebacker
  • Les Earnest (born 1930), American computer scientist

Businesses:

  • Earnest (company), an online personal lender

Ships:

  • Earnest class destroyer, a destroyer class of the British Royal Navy
    • HMS Earnest (1896), a destroyer in the class
Earnest (company)

Earnest is a technology-enabled lender, headquartered in San Francisco that offers personal loans, student loan refinancing, and loans for coding academies. The company uses software, and algorithms to evaluate a person’s full education, employment, and financial profile, looking beyond a traditional credit score (also known as a FICO score) in order to obtain a complete financial profile of each applicant. Earnest uses an online dashboard that gives clients tools to control and customize their loan payments by payment, amount, and time. The company does not charge origination or prepayment fees. Earnest's mission is to offer low-cost credit to qualified individuals at lower rates than traditional banks and build a new bank for the next generation.

Usage examples of "earnest".

I came to you in most serious earnest, imagining, as I find true, that your son had never dared to acquaint you with a match so much inferior to him in point of fortune, though the reputation of the lady will suffer it no longer to remain a secret.

But if the shortness of time should prevent you from complying with this, my earnest desire, and the trial must, of necessity, and to my unspeakable sorrow, be prolonged to another session, then, my lords, I trust you will not consider me, by anything I have said, as precluded from adopting such means of defence as my counsel may judge most advisable for my interest.

Sir Alured, with all his foibles, and with all his faults, was a pure-minded, simple gentleman, who could not tell a lie, who could not do a wrong, and who was earnest in his desire to make those who were dependent on him comfortable, and, if possible, happy.

Surely, in these names, and such as these, there can be no uplift or inspiration to young men toward that unselfish service and earnest work which alone shall help toward the amelioration of the world.

Jefferson Davis, his earnest championship of universal amnesty, and his expressed sympathy with the grievances of the old ruling element of the slave States, had created a kindly impression in that section.

As they were rowed back to where the Golden Bough was anchored, Llewellyn and Winterton were in deep and earnest conversation.

In the experience of earnest Christians, a personal belief in the resurrection of Christ, vividly conceived in the imagination and taken home to the heart, is chiefly effective in its spiritual, not in its argumentative, results.

In this earnest ascription of spirituality to the leaves Lanier recalls Ruskin.

Sterling had told Saint Just were workshops for the conference attendees had begun in earnest after luncheon, so that the hallways on the conference floor were alternately deserted or crowded with women going here, coming from there.

I made up my mind to go to Russia, and began my preparations in good earnest.

Kirk asked discreetly, with a glance at the science station, where ho Bem was engaged in earnest discussion with Spock.

Francis Tyne was a thin, earnest youth with a biggish head and fine colorless hair.

But no other horse on Billabong could see the way Bobs went when he was in earnest.

Mine earnest vehement botcher, And deacon also, I cannot dispute with you: But if you get you not away the sooner, I shall confute you with a cudgel.

As an earnest of my endeavour to do so I knelt down on the green sward, in the shadow of the Boteler turret, and I prayed that I might come to be of use on the earth, and that I might be helped to rise above my own wants and interests, to aid forward whatever of good or noble might be stirring in my days.