Words / E / General

earnest

adjective/ˈɜːnɪst/

B1CEFR level
20/100Rarity: fairly common
NeutralRegister

Sincere and serious in intention and effort.

Her earnest desire to help was obvious even when her methods faltered.

Similar: sincere, serious, heartfelt

Topic: Character & virtue in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Character & virtue