Serious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Serious \Se"ri*ous\, a. [L. serius: cf. F. s['e]rieux, LL.
     seriosus.]
     1. Grave in manner or disposition; earnest; thoughtful;
        solemn; not light, gay, or volatile.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              He is always serious, yet there is about his manner
              a graceful ease.                      --Macaulay.
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     2. Really intending what is said; being in earnest; not
        jesting or deceiving. --Beaconsfield.
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     3. Important; weighty; not trifling; grave.
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              The holy Scriptures bring to our ears the most
              serious things in the world.          --Young.
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     4. Hence, giving rise to apprehension; attended with danger;
        as, a serious injury.
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     Syn: Grave; solemn; earnest; sedate; important; weighty. See
          {Grave}.
          [1913 Webster] -- {Se"ri*ous*ly}, adv. --
          {Se"ri*ous*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  serious
       adj 1: concerned with work or important matters rather than play or
              trivialities; "a serious student of history"; "a
              serious attempt to learn to ski"; "gave me a serious
              look"; "a serious young man"; "are you serious or
              joking?"; "Don't be so serious!" [ant: {frivolous}]
       2: of great consequence; "marriage is a serious matter"
       3: causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; "a
          dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave
          illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a
          serious turn of events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a
          life-threatening disease" [syn: {dangerous}, {grave}, {grievous},
           {severe}, {life-threatening}]
       4: appealing to the mind; "good music"; "a serious book" [syn:
          {good}]
       5: completely lacking in playfulness [syn: {unplayful}, {sober}]
          [ant: {playful}]
       6: requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to
          answer or solve; "raised serious objections to the
          proposal"; "the plan has a serious flaw"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  189 Moby Thesaurus words for "serious":
     abandoned, acute, afire, alarming, ardent, arduous, austere,
     awe-inspiring, bad, bound, bound and determined, burning,
     businesslike, cogitative, cognitive, committed, comprehensive,
     concentrating, concentrative, conceptive, conceptual,
     conceptualized, consequential, considerable, contemplating,
     contemplative, critical, crucial, dangerous, dangersome, decided,
     decisive, decorous, dedicated, deep, definite, deliberating,
     deliberative, demure, determined, devoted, devout, difficult,
     dignified, dour, earnest, elevated, excogitating, exhaustive,
     explosive, faithful, fatal, fateful, fell, fervent, fervid, fiery,
     flaming, formal, formidable, fraught with danger, frowning, full,
     genuine, grand, grave, great, grievous, grim, grim-faced,
     grim-visaged, hearty, heated, heavy, honest, hot, hot-blooded,
     humorless, ideative, impassioned, important, imposing, in earnest,
     inspiring, intense, intent, intent on, introspective, irresistible,
     jeopardous, laborious, life-and-death, life-or-death, lofty,
     long-faced, loyal, main, majestic, major, maximum, meditating,
     meditative, menacing, mental, mighty, moderate, momentous, moving,
     museful, musing, nasty, no joke, no laughing matter, no-nonsense,
     noble, noetic, obstinate, on fire, operose, parlous, passionate,
     pensive, perfervid, periculous, perilous, persevering, persistent,
     plenary, poker-faced, pondering, portentous, powerful, precarious,
     prehensive, pressing, purposeful, red-hot, reflecting, reflective,
     relentless, resolute, resolved, ruminant, ruminating, ruminative,
     sedate, serious-minded, severe, significant, sincere,
     single-minded, sober, sober-minded, sobersided, solemn, somber,
     speculative, spirited, staid, stately, steady, stern, stone-faced,
     straight-faced, straightforward, strenuous, strong, sublime,
     temperate, tenacious, thinking, thought, thoughtful, threatening,
     total, tough, ugly, unamusing, unfunny, unsmiling, urgent,
     vehement, vital, warm, weighty, white-hot, wholehearted, wistful,
     zealous