# serious

Pronunciation: say "SEER-ee-uhs" US /ˈsɪɚ.i.əs/, UK /ˈsɪə̯.ɹi.əs/

## Adjective

1. Important and weighty; significant enough to demand attention or concern.
   - Simple: Very important and needing careful thought, not small.
   - _The company is facing serious financial trouble this quarter._
   - _Doctors found a serious problem with his heart valve._
2. Genuinely meaning what one says or plans; in earnest, rather than joking or deceiving.
   - Simple: Truly meaning what you say, and not joking around.
   - _She was serious about moving abroad next year._
   - _He made a serious offer to buy the house at full price._
3. Notably big, substantial, or impressive, whether the measure is amount, degree, or quality. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Very big or very good in amount, level, or quality.
   - _They put serious money into the renovation, and it shows._
   - _This is serious coffee, nothing like the watery stuff from the office machine._
4. Sincerely committed, especially to a relationship or to a chosen pursuit.
   - Simple: Truly committed to a person or a goal you care about.
   - _Are the two of them serious, or just casually dating?_
   - _He's a serious athlete who trains six days a week._
5. Grave in manner or disposition, showing no humor or sign of cheerfulness.
   - Simple: Not cheerful or playful, with no joking or smiling.
   - _His serious tone made the whole room fall silent._
   - _The judge stayed serious as she read out the verdict._

## Adverb

6. Earnestly or in a grave manner; used colloquially in place of "seriously," most often in "take serious" or "mean serious." *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Used in casual or local speech to mean "seriously."
   - _Folks down here don't take outsiders serious at first._
   - _She told him she meant it serious this time._

## Origin

Latin sērius ('grave, earnest, serious') was extended in Medieval Latin to sēriōsus, which, with Old French serieux, lies behind Middle English seryows. Most accounts trace sērius to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'heavy', making it a relative of German schwer ('heavy, difficult') and Old English swǣr ('heavy, grave'), though that connection is disputed.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/serious (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).