be in earnest
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
Great Britain now realized that the fight must be in earnest, and hired twenty thousand Hessians to help subjugate the colonies.
From Famous American Statesmen by Sarah Knowles Bolton
He must be in earnest with his body, not lazy with it.
From Sunday-School Success A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers by Amos R. Wells
Good!" exclaimed the drost: "there is, then, some meaning in it, and I now begin to be in earnest; for, hitherto, the whole affair has appeared to me somewhat like a joke.
From The Childhood of King Erik Menved An Historical Romance by Bernhard Severin Ingemann
