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Definition: Serious |
SeriousAdjective1. 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!". 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". 4. Appealing to the mind; "good music"; "a serious book". 5. Completely lacking in playfulness. 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". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "serious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
Synonyms: SeriousSynonyms: dangerous (adj), good (adj), grave (adj), grievous (adj), severe (adj), sober (adj), unplayful (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: frivolous (adj), playful (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dejection | Serious, sedate, staid, stayed; grave as a judge, grave as an undertaker, grave as a mustard pot; sober, sober as a judge, solemn, demure; grim; grim-faced, grim-visaged; rueful, wan, long-faced. |
Dullness | No joke, serious matter (importance). |
Greatness | Goodly, noble, precious, mighty; sad, grave, heavy, serious; far gone, arrant, downright; utter, uttermost; crass, gross, arch, profound, intense, consummate; rank, uninitiated, red-hot, desperate; glaring, flagrant, stark staring; thorough-paced, thoroughgoing; roaring, thumping; extraordinary.; important; unsurpassed; (supreme); complete. august, grand, dignified, sublime, majestic; (repute). |
Importance | Grave, serious, earnest, noble, grand, solemn, impressive, commanding, imposing. |
Resolution | Earnest, serious; set upon, bent upon, intent upon. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Serious |
| Specialty definitions using "serious": serious assault, serious crime. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "serious": Jocoserious. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Leo Solomon has serious concerns about my exploring a social, you know, scenario, with the President of the United States (The American President; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin.) I'm totally and completely serious. (Say Anything; writing credit: Cameron Crowe.) You were serious about dat (My Cousin Vinny; writing credit: Dale Launer.) There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone (Ghostbusters; writing credit: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.) Yeah, it was like a serious cackling (The Blair Witch Project; writing credit: Daniel Myrick; Eduardo Sánchez) | |
Lyrics | But it doesn't mean that I'm serious (Oops!... I Did It Again; performing artist: Britney Spears) And I'm serious, never been more baby (Come On Over (All I Want Is You) (Radio Edit); performing artist: Christina Aguilera) I’m serious when I tell you, love (Choose; performing artist: Color Me Badd) Me and Kelly got some serious business (Jumpin', Jumpin' (So So Def Remix); performing artist: Destiny's Child) Serious because we can't concentrate and get this right (Give It Up, Turn It Loose; performing artist: En Vogue) | |
Clever | I'm serious. It was a joke. (references; author: unknown) You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965) Serious Charge (1959) Bobby Bumps' World Serious (1917) Serious Sixteen (1910) You Cannot Be Serious (1999) | |
Song Titles | Let's Get Serious (performing artist: Jermaine Jackson) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
Workers are shown wearing protective clothing to clean up chemical wastes abandoned in dumps. This is a serious environmental problem. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer). | A pregnant woman with syphilis can pass T. pallidum to her unborn child, who may be born with serious mental and physical problems as a result of this infection. When a newborn is affected it is known as “Congenital Syphilis”. Credit: CDC. | ||
This is a photomicrograph of Clostridium botulinum stained with Gentian violet. The bacterium C. botulinum produces a nerve toxin, which causes the rare, but serious paralytic illness Botulism. Credit: CDC. | ![]() | Horned pondweed - Zannichellia palustrus - growth usually peaks in June and begins covering the beaches. Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) provides food and habitat for a wide variety of biota, but has been in serious decline for the last several decades. Credit: America's Coastlines. | |
![]() | More serious reading at the main library. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. | ![]() | Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. Sapelo Lighthouse, constructed in 1820, suffered serious damage during a hurricane in 1898. It was restored in 1998 to its present condition. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). |
![]() | In HYDROLAB's twenty years, no serious hyperbaric accidents occurred. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). | ![]() | These bendway weirs installed along the Spoon River in Peoria County, Illinois, help to slow down the fast-moving waters that can cause serious streambank erosion damage. Credit: Bob Nichols. |
![]() | NRCS utilized gabion structures to prevent serious erosion in an urban area of Virginia. Credit: Jeff Vanuga. | ![]() | Tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, is a serious pest of alfalfa being grown for seed. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "A Serious Soldier" by Sheila Broumley Commentary: "A very serious-looking toy soldier on white background." | "Cloud 2" by Marcus Friesl Commentary: "Another image in a serious taken while photographing the sun." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Eric Hoffer | A nation declines when its people become too serious to set their hearts on toys. |
Henrik Ibsen | Really to sin you have to be serious about it. |
Horace | Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment. |
Iris Murdoch | Human affairs are not serious, but they have to be taken seriously. |
Joseph Addison | We are growing serious, and let me tell you, that's the next step to being dull. |
Leigh Hunt | The person who can be only serious or only cheerful, is but half a man. |
Peter Ustinov | Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious. |
Samuel Butler | The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously. |
William Congreve | I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | Thenceforth, a serious political contest was altogether out of the question. (reference) |
Winston S. Churchill | 1946 | When American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive the words "over-all strategic concept." There is wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. ("Iron Curtain" Speech) |
John F. Kennedy | 1961 | Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | He thanked her with all his heart, and continued some time to speak with serious feeling of his gratitude and happiness |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | I have reserved, for the last, one or two rather more serious topics |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | Douglas Adams | But popular? Only in the sense that a serious accident on the motorway might be popular -- everyone slows down to have a good look, but no one will get too close to the flames |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Or I might readily have found a more serious task |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Never had the two ideas that governed the unfortunate man whose sufferings we are relating, engaged in so serious a struggle |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | He saw her serious alluring eyes watching him from among the audience and their image at once swept away his scruples, leaving his will compact |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | And his face was serious and responsible |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | It is only the serious eye peering from and the sincere life passed within it which restrain laughter and consecrate the costume of any people |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | NIHL is serious. (references) | |
Dysphagia can be serious. (references) | ||
This is a serious condition. (references) | ||
Business | The abduction of women is a serious problem. (references) | |
AIDS is considered the most serious worldwide health problem. (references) | ||
Mobile phone handset smuggling has become a serious problem in China. (references) | ||
Children | Philippines | Nevertheless, children faced serious problems. (references) |
Malawi | Infant mortality is high, and child malnutrition is a serious problem. (references) | |
Malawi | Child prostitution occurs, but it is not considered a serious problem. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Russia | Kidnapings and assaults remained serious threats. (references) |
Mexico | The numerous attacks on journalists constituted the most serious problem for press freedom. (references) | |
Syria | Sulayman suffered a serious head wound that led to his hospitalization, although he subsequently recovered. (references) | |
Discrimination | Somalia | The Transitional Charter, adopted in 2000 but not implemented by year's end, contains provisions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and national origin; however, societal discrimination and violence against women and widespread abuse of children continued to be serious problems. (references) |
Economic History | Ecuador | However, serious economic problems remain. (references) |
Burma | Drug use and HIV/AIDS are serious problems. (references) | |
Human Rights | Equatorial Guinea | The level of these abuses is serious. (references) |
Malaysia | Prison overcrowding is a serious problem. (references) | |
Yugoslavia | He suffered a concussion and other serious injuries. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Brazil | Illegal mining, logging, and ranching are serious problems on indigenous land. (references) |
Guatemala | Indigenous people were the most common victims of extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights abuses during the internal conflict. (references) | |
Minorities | Slovak Republic | Two of the Roma were hospitalized with serious injuries. (references) |
Political Economy | Angola | Impunity was a serious problem. (references) |
Armenia | Emigration remained a serious problem. (references) | |
Syria | Their members commit serious human rights abuses. (references) | |
Political Rights | Malaysia | Legislation proposed by the opposition never is given serious consideration. (references) |
Kyrgyz Republic | Both parliamentary and presidential elections held in 2000 were marred by serious irregularities. (references) | |
Armenia | Serious breaches of the election law resulted in a lack of public confidence in the integrity of the overall election process. (references) | |
Trade | Switzerland | Several cantonal banks experienced serious problems during the mid 1990's as a result of sharp declines in the real estate market. (references) |
Armenia | Newly emerging private companies, with a few exceptions, are too weak to provide serious financing for long term projects of their own. (references) | |
Mexico | Over the past 6 years the number of trade disruptions over standard matters has gradually decreased; however, some serious disruptions still occur. (references) | |
Travel | Lithuania | Food contamination is not a serious problem. (references) |
Pakistan | The Islamabad/Rawalpindi area also experiences serious water shortages during summer months. (references) | |
Turkey | If discovered, individuals could be arrested for aiding and abetting the PKK-a serious charge. (references) | |
Women | Korea | Rape remained a serious problem. (references) |
India | Dowry disputes also are a serious problem. (references) | |
China | A high female suicide rate is a serious problem. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Russia | Other more serious cases remain unresolved. (references) |
China | Occupational health and safety remain serious problems. (references) | |
Zimbabwe | The strike caused serious disruption to the milling industry. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | ZANY, n. A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the buffone, or clown, and was therefore the ape of an ape; for the clown himself imitated the serious characters of the play. The zany was progenitor to the specialist in humor, as we to-day have the unhappiness to know him. In the zany we see an example of creation; in the humorist, of transmission. Another excellent specimen of the modern zany is the curate, who apes the rector, who apes the bishop, who apes the archbishop, who apes the devil. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Chuck Hagel | Well, that point has been made a couple of times. I think there should be some perspective brought to anything as serious as committing young men and women to war, because people lose their lives and then there are consequences to that. |
Dennis Miller | I can certainly appreciate the fact that commercial airlines in this country were put in serious financial trouble by the terrorist attacks, but using that tragedy as a cudgel to pound billions of dollars out of the federal government was wrong. |
Jesse Ventura | That was not very serious at all. I'm just going after George in the same manner I felt he went after me, and, you know, if he can dish it out I hope he can take it. |
John Warner | While the Senate rafters are not ringing with rhetoric and debate, but the serious discussions in all the committee rooms. |
Lisa French | We would consider it. I don't feel that my husband and I are capable of giving them the kind of help that they need at this point in their life. They need some serious help and they need to be put in a place where they can get that help. |
Rush Limbaugh | The government isn't serious about stopping smoking. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | The consequences of a defective provision are of serious import to the Government. |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | To our former grounds of complaint has been added a very serious one, as you will see by the decree a copy of which is now communicated. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | There are also serious gaps in our statistical information. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | On the contrary the Soviets are rapidly continuing their construction of missile support and launch facilities, and serious attempts are under way to camouflage their efforts. |
Gerald Ford | 1974-1977 | But crime, and the fear of crime, remains one of the most serious problems facing our citizens. |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | But, our Nation has serious problems. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Waste and fraud are serious problems. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | Since we really mean it, and since we're serious about being ready to meet our challenge, we're getting our own house in order. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Serious crime has dropped five years in a row. |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Serious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.59% of the time. "Serious" is used about 12,394 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.59% | 12,219 | 754 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.37% | 170 | 23,898 |
| Noun (plural) | 0.02% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (common) | 0.02% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 12,394 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "serious": become more serious ♦ become serious ♦ dead serious ♦ get serious ♦ ha ha only serious ♦ make serious ♦ not serious ♦ nothing serious so far ♦ on serious reflection ♦ serious assault ♦ serious crime ♦ serious disturbance ♦ serious fault ♦ serious illness ♦ serious incident ♦ serious injury ♦ serious matter importance ♦ serious minded ♦ serious music ♦ serious transmissible disease ♦ serious trouble ♦ serious warning ♦ very serious. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "serious": serious-art, serious-faced, serious-looking, serious-minded, serious-mindedness, serious-money, serious-sounding. | |
Ending with "serious": half-serious, mock-serious, non-serious, over-serious, semi-serious. | |
Containing "serious": pretend-nothing-serious-has-happened. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "serious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | ernstig (important), erg (important), belangrik (important), benouend (airless, alarming, burdensome, grave, onerous, oppressive, stiffling, sultry). (various references) | |
Albanian | serioz (bad, crying, deep, demure, dress, earnest, grave, heavy, nasty, reliable, solemn, weighty), i rëndësishëm (capital, consequential, earnest, epoch making, eventful, front page, grave, important, imported, impressive, inflated, jack in office, mattery, mouth-filling, notable, noteworthy, responsible, sidy, significant, substantial, tidy), i rëndë (arduous, artless, awkward, bad, bulky, burdensome, cubbish, cumbersome, cumbrous, dead, difficile, elephantine, grave, grievous, grinding, hard, heavy, hefty, incondite, knock about, leaden, lumping, massive, oafish, onerous, peremptory, plodding, ponderous, portly, set up, severe, solemn, stertorous, stodgy, tricky, unwieldy, wakeless, weighty). (various references) | |
Arabic | فظ (abrupt, blunt, boor, boorish, brusque, brutish, burly, chuffy, churlish, clownish, coarse, country, crude, crusty, curt, discourteous, earthy, grievous, gross, gruff, hairy, harsh, hoarse, ill mannered, impolite, indelicate, low, mannerless, obdurate, off hand, plug ugly, precipitous, rough, rough and ready, rude, ruffianly, rugged, rustic, savage, scathe, shaggy, short, sour, surly, uncivil, uncouth, unkind, unmannerly, unprintable), مهم (important, in the first flight, leading, main, paramount, remarkable, signify, sizable, substantial), وقور (lordly, magisterial, proper, sedate, sober, solemn, staid, thoughtful), ذو بال (important), خطير (acute, critical, dangerous, eventful, grave, grievous, hazardous, heavy, important, irresistible, momentous, redoubtable, risky, risque, severe, significant, ticklish, unsafe, weighty), جدي (businesslike, earnest, kid), رزين (calm, demure, grave, level, level headed, matronly, portentous, sedate, sober, sober minded, staid, stoical), رصين (calm, equable, equal, sedate, sober, sober minded, solemn, solid, staid, steady, thoughtful). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сериозен (earnest, grave, heavy, intent, prayerful, sad, sage, sedate, sober, solemn, somber, sombre, staid, steady, straight), важен (consequential, dignified, fatal, grave, importable, important, magisterial, major, material, mighty, necessitous, newsy, pompous, pontifical, portentous, prominent, sage, significant, solemn, sounding, staple, substantial, top-line, weighty), значителен (appreciable, considerable, goodly, handsome, important, major, marked, monumental, respectable, round, sensible, significant, smart, symbolic, symbolical, tidy). (various references) | |
Catalan | greu. (various references) | |
Chinese | 認真 (earnest, take seriously, take to heart), 重 (a layer, again, heavy, iteration, repetition, to double, to repeat), 鄭重 , 篤 (sincere, true), 嚴重 (critical, grave, severe), 嚴 (severe, stern, strict, tight), 沉重 (critical, hard, heavy), 正經 (according to standards, decent; proper), 岸然 (solemn), 严肃 (Austere, Austereness, Austerities, Austerity, severity, sombre). (various references) | |
Czech | seriózní (dependable, earnest, reliable, reputable, respectable), vážný (austere, dangerous, earnest, good, grave, major, mellow, pensive, portly, solemn, solid, stern, straight, strong, wistful), opravdový (authentic, earnest, genuine, real, sincere, undisguised, veritable), nároèný (arduous, challenging, demanding, discerning, discriminating, exacting, hard, severe, sophisticated, stiff). (various references) | |
Danish | vigtig (important), alvorlig (cheerful, earnest, gay, merry, staid). (various references) | |
Dutch | voornaam (aristocratic, Christian name, first name, important), ernstig (earnest, important, staid), erg (important, quite, very, very much). (various references) | |
Esperanto | serioza (earnest, staid), maltrankviliga (anxious, grave), grava (important). (various references) | |
Faeroese | týdningarmikil (important), álvarsamur (earnest, important, staid). (various references) | |
Farsi | مهم (Chief, Considerable, Earthshaking, Epochal, Grand, Grave, Great, Head, Important, Main, Material, Momentous, Principal, Significant, Smacker, Substantial), وخیم (Critical, Crucial, Dire, Fatal, Tense), سخت (Adjacent, Chronic, Crusty, Demanding, Difficult, Dogged, Dour, Eburnated, Exquisite, Grave, Grim, Rigid, Rigorous, Rocky, Rugged, Severe, Sore, Steely, Stratify, Stringent, Strong, Troublesome), خطیر (Momentous), خطرناک (Calamitous, Disastrous, Dngerous, Grave, Herculean, Ill, Jeopardous, Malignant, Perilous, Venturesome), جدی (Bonafide, Demure, Drastic, Earnest, Energetic, Grand, Rigid, Sedate, Solemn, Stickler, Uncanny). (various references) | |
Finnish | vakava (earnest, firm, grave, stable, staid, steady). (various references) | |
French | grave (severe), sérieux (seriousness), important. (various references) | |
French Canadian | grave. (various references) | |
Frisian | earnstich (earnest, staid), danich (considerable, important, sizable), aardich (attractive, charming, important, lovely). (various references) | |
German | ernst (astringent, austere, earnest, earnestly, earnestness, firmly, grave, gravelly, gravely, gravity, heaviness, heavy, important, pensive, seriously, seriousness, severe, severeness, severity, sincere, sober, solemn, solemnity, solemnly, staid, stern, sternly, sternness, unsmiling), ernsthaft (considered, earnest, earnestly, genuine, grave, in earnest, seriously, sincere, sincerely, staid, wholehearted), seriös (quality, reliable, reputable, respectable, staid), erheblich (considerable, important, material, pertinent, relevant, severe, substantially, vastly). (various references) | |
Greek | σπουδαίοσ (frabjous, grand, great, important, momentous, of note, significant), σοβαρόσ (burning, demure, earnest, grave, important, matronal, matronly, saturnine, sedate, sober, solemn, staid), σοβαρός (grievous, serious about, severe, solemn), αισθητόσ (observable, perceivable, perceptible, sensate, sensible, tangible). (various references) | |
Hebrew | חמור (ass, austere, burro, critical, donkey, drastic, grave, jackass, moke, severe, stern, strict, stringent), רציני (deep, demure, earnest, grave, important, severe). (various references) | |
Hungarian | fontos (capital, important, main, major, memorabilia, memorable, momentous, of some account, ponderous, significant, stressful, substantial). (various references) | |
Icelandic | alvarlegur (earnest, staid). (various references) | |
Indonesian | serius, keberatsebelahan (hard, strong, weight), gawat (critical, dangerous, grave). (various references) | |
Italian | serio (earnest, grave, seriously, staid, steady, wholehearted), grave (bad, deep, earnest, grave, grievous, harsh, heavy, important, severe, solemn, unsmiling, weighty), importante (big, esentially, essential, grand, great, important, importent, key, momentous, notable, prominent, significant, signifying, vital, weighty). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 重い (heavy, important, massive, severe), 甚大 (enormous, very great), 甚だしい (excessive, extreme, heavy damage, intense, severe, terrible, tremendous). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | せつじつ (acute, compelling, earnest, pressing, severe, urgent), はなはだしい (excessive, extreme, heavy, intense, severe, terrible, tremendous), じんだい (age of the gods, ancient time, enormous, very great), じゅうだい (grave, important, successive generations, teenage, the teens, the tenth generation, weighty), じゅうとく, けんあく (dangerous, gloomy, perilous, stormy, threatening), げん (bow string, chord, fundamental, handle, not to be touched, original, primary, primitive, raw, remark, statement, string, word), シリアス , とんだ (absolutely not, awful, preposterous, terrible), あつい (cordial, deep, faithful, hot, kind, thick, warm), ただならぬ (alarming, incomparable, unusual), まじめ (diligent, honest), ひどい (awful, cruel, heavy, severe, terrible, very bad, violent), しんみり (heart-to-heart, sad, solemn), しんこく (China under the Manchus, filing a return, formal complaint made by a victim, Japan, land of the gods, new grain, notification, report, statement), マジ , おもい (affection, desire, emotion, expectation, experience, feelings, heart, heavy, hope, imagination, important, love, massive, mind, oppressed, sentiment, severe, thought, wish), おもおもしい (dignified, exceedingly, frequently, grave, sincerely), おもたい (heavy, important, massive, oppressed, severe), ゆゆしい (alarming, grave). (various references) | |
Korean | 심각한. (various references) | |
Malay | penting (important). (various references) | |
Manx | trome-chooishagh (grave, important), smooinaghtagh (imaginable, notional, pensive, thinking, thoughtful). (various references) | |
Norwegian | alvorlig (earnest, grave, grievous, staid). (various references) | |
Papiamen | serio (earnest, staid), importante (important), grave (important). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | erioussay.(various references) | |
Polish | poważny (earnest, important, staid). (various references) | |
Portuguese | sério (abstemious, austere, convinced, demure, earnest, fair, important, respectable, sedate, severe, single-eyed, single-minded, sober, solemn, staid, stern, straight, straightaway, straightforward, temperate, thoughtful), sisudo (earnest, staid, stern, unsmiling), importante (big, capital, distinguish, golden, grand, grave, great, high, important, keynote, leading, momentous, necessary, ponderous, purposeful, relevant, significant, solemn, substantial, weighty), grave (earnest, engrave, grave, grievous, important, momentous, ponderous, portentous, severe, solemn, staid), categorizado (important). (various references) | |
Romanian | serios (appreciable, demure, earnest, earnestly, genuine, grave, gravely, grievously, important, in earnest, in good earnest, intimate, matronal, minded, reliable, sad, sedate, serious minded, seriously, seriousness, severe, sober, solemn, solid, staid, steady, stern, valid, weighty, well-conducted). (various references) | |
Russian | серьезный (deep, earnest, grave, heavy, no-nonsense, severe), важный (consequential, donnish, earnest, first rate, grave, humungous, important, momentous, of consequence, of great moment, of importance, of significance, portentous, prancing, significant, substantial, weighty). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | svečan (declamatory, dressy, festal, festive, formal, gala, grave, solemn, state, stately), važan (consequential, imperative, important, material, momentous, pertinent, weighty), ozbiljan (earnest, earnestly, grave, major, momentous, severe, staid, stern). (various references) | |
Spanish | serio (businesslike, demure, dependable, earnest, heavy, meaningful, responsible, serious minded, severe, sober, sober minded, staid, thinking, thoughtful, unsmiling), importante (big, consequential, considerable, deferent, essential, great, important, important thing, large, leading, respectable, significant, sizable, sizeable, top, valuable, weighty), grave (acute, alarming, bad, court, courtyard, deep, demure, desperate, difficult, dignified, grave, grievous, grim, gross, heavy, important, low, lower, nasty, severe, weighty, yard), crítico (alarming, censor, censorious, critic, critical, grave, knocker, reviewer, vital). (various references) | |
Swahili | -kubwa (big, great, important, large), kubwa (big, great, important, large). (various references) | |
Swedish | allvarlig (austere, earnest, grave, major, severe, staid, weighty), seriös, rejäl (glorious, good, honest, sure). (various references) | |
Tagalog | mahalagá (important). (various references) | |
Turkish | ciddi (austere, businesslike, capital, critical, demure, devout, earnest, eventful, forbidding, grave, gut, important, momentous, mortally, sedate, sober, sober minded, solemn, staid, starched, unsmiling), şakaya gelmeyen, ağirbaxli (earnest, important, staid), ağir (abusive, important, insulting, light, nasty, offensive, slow), ağırbaşlı (austere, calm, demure, dignified, earnest, graceful, grand, imperturbable, matronly, only, sage, sedate, sober, sober minded, solemn, staid), ağır (arduous, back breaking, badly, bovine, burdensome, contemptuous, cumbersome, cumbrous, deep, deliberate, dignified, drudging, dull, fabian, foul, grave, grievous, hard, harsh, heavily, heavy, hefty, indigestible, languid, lazy, lumbering, massive, measured, muzzy, not fast, onerous, oppressive, plodding, ponderous, repressive, rich, scorching, scornful, serious minded, seriously, severe, severely, sharp, slack, slashing, slow, slow moving, slowly, sluggish, smashing, stodgy, strenuous, strong, swingeing, toilful, toilsome, unwholesome, unwieldy, weighty), önemli (big, big time, capital, consequential, considerable, emphatic, emphatical, eventful, fateful, grand, grave, great, gut, healthy, heavy, high, historic, historical, important, leading, major, momentous, noteworthy, of importance, of note, of weight, prominent, respectable, significant, smart, solemn, star, substantial, top-line, urgent, weighty, worthy). (various references) | |
Turkmen | salyhatly, ymykly (definitive), goяazy. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | серйозний (deep, demure, earnest, serious minded, solemn), важливий (big, consequential, considerable, earnest, grand, grave, important, influential, interesting, momentous, newsworthy, purposeful, weighty), небезпечний (adventurous, awkward, breakneck, chanceful, climacteric, critical, dangerous, harmful, hazardous, insecure, nasty, parlous, perilous, redoubtable, redoubted, thorny, uncanny, unsafe, virulent, wicked). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trầm trọng (gravely, seriously), thật sự (actual, effective, regular, strict), quan trọng (important, leading), nghiêm trang (demure, matronal, matronlike, matronly), nghiêm nghị hệ trọng, nặng đáng sợ, không thể coi thường được; nghiêm trọng, đứng đắn (decently, earnest, seriously), đáng gờm thành thật. (various references) | |
Welsh | sobr (abstemious, abstinent, sober), prysur (busy, diligent, hasty), prudd (grave, sad, wise), o ddifrif, difrifol (earnest, grave, solemn). (various references) | |
Yucatec | k'ana'an (important, necessary). (various references) | |
Zulu | -phakeme (correct, important, right). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern |