Synonyms for serious
ˈsɪər i əsse·ri·ous

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. seriousadjective

   Really intending what is said; being in earnest; not jesting or deceiving; meaningful.

   After all these years, we're finally getting serious attention.

   Antonyms:
   jesting

2. seriousadjective

   Antonyms:
   trifling, unimportant

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. serious

   Synonyms:
   grave, thoughtful, careful, earnest, solemn, important, weighty

   Antonyms:
   volatile, gay, thoughtless, careless, joking, jocose, insignificant, unimportant, trifling, trivial, light

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. seriousadjective

   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!"

   Synonyms:
   unplayful, severe, grave, good, life-threatening, sober, dangerous, grievous

   Antonyms:
   flighty, trivial, scatterbrained, light, lightheaded, light-headed, empty-headed, head-in-the-clouds, noncritical, silly, dizzy, flippant, flyaway, featherbrained, noncrucial, airheaded, frivolous, giddy, nonintellectual, easy, light-minded, unimportant, idle

2. seriousadjective

   of great consequence

   "marriage is a serious matter"

   Synonyms:
   unplayful, severe, grave, good, life-threatening, sober, dangerous, grievous

   Antonyms:
   dizzy, light, light-headed, empty-headed, flyaway, scatterbrained, giddy, lightheaded, head-in-the-clouds, nonintellectual, unimportant, flighty, light-minded, idle, flippant, airheaded, featherbrained, silly, trivial, noncrucial, easy, noncritical, frivolous

3. dangerous, grave, grievous, serious, severe, life-threateningadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   severe, sober, wicked, stark, unsafe, terrible, hard, spartan, stern, heavy, unplayful, weighty, monstrous, grave, good, grievous, atrocious, sedate, flagitious, life-threatening, dangerous, knockout, austere, heartbreaking, heartrending, solemn

   Antonyms:
   light-headed, empty-headed, giddy, lightheaded, featherbrained, easy, dizzy, airheaded, flighty, flyaway, noncritical, head-in-the-clouds, trivial, frivolous, silly, unimportant, noncrucial, light, nonintellectual, flippant, light-minded, scatterbrained, idle

4. good, seriousadjective

   appealing to the mind

   "good music"; "a serious book"

   Synonyms:
   dear, good, beneficial, unplayful, in effect(p), unspoiled, skillful, sound, secure, effective, severe, upright, salutary, in force(p), skilful, practiced, dependable, estimable, life-threatening, grievous, expert, just, grave, dangerous, sober, proficient, full, honest, respectable, undecomposed, unspoilt, ripe, safe, adept, honorable, well(p), right, near

   Antonyms:
   flighty, featherbrained, light-minded, scatterbrained, dizzy, flyaway, flippant, empty-headed, easy, noncritical, idle, airheaded, silly, noncrucial, lightheaded, light, head-in-the-clouds, unimportant, giddy, nonintellectual, light-headed, trivial, frivolous

5. unplayful, serious, soberadjective

   completely lacking in playfulness

   Synonyms:
   severe, sombre, drab, grave, good, sedate, unplayful, life-threatening, sober, somber, dangerous, grievous, solemn

   Antonyms:
   dizzy, noncrucial, silly, giddy, flighty, lightheaded, empty-headed, flyaway, scatterbrained, flippant, light-minded, head-in-the-clouds, featherbrained, airheaded, light, trivial, unimportant, nonintellectual, light-headed, easy, noncritical, idle, frivolous

6. seriousadjective

   requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve

   "raised serious objections to the proposal"; "the plan has a serious flaw"

   Synonyms:
   unplayful, severe, grave, good, life-threatening, sober, dangerous, grievous

   Antonyms:
   light-headed, unimportant, nonintellectual, lightheaded, trivial, empty-headed, noncrucial, light, head-in-the-clouds, silly, flighty, noncritical, flippant, giddy, scatterbrained, flyaway, dizzy, light-minded, easy, featherbrained, frivolous, idle, airheaded

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. seriousadjective

   Synonyms:
   grave, solemn, sedate, staid, sober, earnest, demure, not gay, not sportive or jocose

2. seriousadjective

   Synonyms:
   important, weighty, great, momentous

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. seriousadjective

   Synonyms:
   grave, earnest, thoughtful, solemn, staid, sober, demure, saturnine, momentous, important, weighty, grave, dangerous, alarming, critical

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "serious":

   grave, severe, seriously, acute, major, gross, dangerous, earnest, heavy, grievous, significant, dire, deep, graves, great, conscientiously, gravely, seriousness, critical, important, profound, considerable, severely, bad, earnestly, big, gravity, substantial, large, egregious, strong, huge, jad, real, difficult

How to pronounce serious?

How to say serious in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use serious in a sentence?

1. Robert Hutchins:

   It is not so important to be serious as it is to be serious about the important things. The monkey wears an expression of seriousness which would do credit to any college student, but the monkey is serious because he itches.

2. Spike Lee:

   It is possible to address a very serious subject matter and still have humor. I've done it before. 'Do the Right Thing' was serious as hell. It was so serious you can still show that film today -- it's still contemporary. But 'Do the Right Thing' was also funny as a motherf***er, there are many examples -- music, plays, novels, movies -- where humor has been injected into very serious subject matter.

3. Operative Chuck Laudner:

   It really is serious. And that's his biggest hurdle for him at this point is to convince people that's he's serious and not playing around with it, before we can even get to the issues ... first we have to convince people that he is serious about running.

4. Dejan Stojanovic:

   Serious affairs and history are carefully laid snares for the uninformed. Serious affairs and history are carefully laid snares for the uninformed.

5. Tony Buzbee:

   It didn't take me very long to figure out just in that process that The NFL wasn't serious about The NFL. They're just not serious. They're serious about how many people you can put in the stands, how much merchandise you can sell, and how far you can throw the football. They're not concerned and are not serious about, you know, codes of conduct, things that are said, done, off the field.