earnestly

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɝnɪstli/ UK /ˈɜːnɪstli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adv
in a sincere and serious manner

He pleaded earnestly with the board to reconsider their decision.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · in a sincere and serious... sincerely seriously fervently intently gravely wholeheartedly zealously

Opposites

flippantlycasuallyinsincerely

Word family

Related forms earnest earnestness

Etymology

From 'earnest' + '-ly'. 'Earnest' is from Old English 'eornost' ('seriousness, zeal'), from Proto-Germanic '*ernustuz'.

eornost Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# earnestly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /ˈɝnɪstli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɜːnɪstli/

## Meanings
1. in a sincere and serious manner

## Examples
- He pleaded earnestly with the board to reconsider their decision.

## Synonyms
- sincerely
- seriously
- fervently
- intently
- gravely
- wholeheartedly
- zealously

## Antonyms
- flippantly
- casually
- insincerely

## Related Forms
- earnest
- earnestness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: eornost

## Etymology
From 'earnest' + '-ly'. 'Earnest' is from Old English 'eornost' ('seriousness, zeal'), from Proto-Germanic '*ernustuz'.

## AI Etymology
Earnestly is from 'earnest' + '-ly'. 'Earnest' is from Old English 'eornost' ('seriousness, zeal'), from Proto-Germanic '*ernustuz'. Important recorded forms include eornost (Old English). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers in a sincere and serious manner. The wider family includes related words such as earnest and earnestness.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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