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be in earnest

VERB
mean business
Synonyms


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.

Those imams who still counsel against jihadist terrorism, says Kepel, may be in earnest.

From Time Magazine Archive

In Washington, Reagan Administration officials stressed that the Soviet leader's reform efforts seem to be in earnest, and avoided dashing hopes for better U.S.-Soviet ties.

From Time Magazine Archive

The certainty that the Curia would be in earnest about it gave them somewhat more energy than they had shown in the debate on the Little Catechism.

From Letters From Rome on the Council by D?llinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von

Men worth their salt make their opportunities, but if they don't even take them when they are ready-made to their hand, they cannot be in earnest.

From Diana Tempest, Volume III (of 3) by Cholmondeley, Mary

“Well, I must say,” cried her sister, “he seems to be in earnest, at any rate, even if you are not.”

From The Brute by Kummer, Frederic Arnold




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