seriously
English
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Middle English seryowslech
English seriously
From Middle English seriously, sereously, ceryously, seryowslech (“earnestly”), equivalent to serious + -ly.
Pronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsɪə.ɹi.əs.li/, (in rapid speech) /ˈsɪə.ɹəs.li/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɪɹ.i.əs.li/, /ˈsiɹ.i.əs.li/
Audio (US): (file)
Adverb
editseriously (comparative more seriously, superlative most seriously)
- (manner) In a serious or literal manner.
- He was hoping that we would take him seriously.
- 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 101:
- “I’ll qualify the statement, then,” she answered, with a laugh. “We have known each other for two ages—hers and mine. But seriously we are as dear to each other as sisters, and now that I am going to lose her I am almost heartbroken.”
- 2009 June 26, Dwight Garner, “Out of the Bedroom, Into the Clinic”, in The New York Times[1]:
- Masters and Johnson wanted their work to be taken seriously, and wanted to stay a step ahead of the morality police, so they tended to write in almost comically dense medicalese.
- 2015, Christopher Biggins, Biggins - My Story:
- Jeremy, meanwhile, was the fun-lover, like me, who didn't always take it too seriously.
- Gravely; deeply; very much.
- That was a seriously unpleasant thing to say.
- Used to attempt to introduce a serious point in a less serious conversation.
- Synonyms: no really, no kidding, real talk
- Now, seriously, why did you forget to feed the cat today?
- Used to call back to a previous point, in disbelief or for emphasis.
- Synonyms: no really, no kidding
- You baked ten (10) cakes. Seriously, why did you do that?
- (informal) In an extreme or major way; majorly.
- Unless you're seriously strapped (armed), you're about to be not okay too.
Derived terms
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editin a serious or literal manner
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speech-act
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *leyg- (like)
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *swer- (ache)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ed- (smell)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₁- (long)
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Old Latin
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial)
- English 4-syllable words
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