serious
Any important situation is serious, and this word is also the opposite of humorous and playful.
If you're frowning, someone might say, "Why so serious?" This is a word for people and situations where there's no fooling around. If you're staring at the computer screen, typing quickly, you look serious. If you are in a car accident, that's a serious situation. Some people are more serious than others. If you're always making jokes and smiling, then you're not that serious. One place everyone needs to be serious is at a funeral home.
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of great consequence
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requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve
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completely lacking in playfulness
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appealing to the mind
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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:earnest, sincere, solemncharacterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinionsgrave, sedate, sober, solemndignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promisesoverseriousexcessively seriousrealnot to be taken lightlysoberingtending to make sober or more serioussolidof a substantial character and not frivolous or superficialantonyms:frivolousnot serious in content or attitude or behaviorsuperficialconcerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectuallyairheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, featherbrained, giddy, light-headed, lightheaded, sillylacking seriousness; given to frivolitylightintended primarily as entertainment; not serious or profoundtrivialconcerned with trivialities
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causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
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Vocabulary lists containing serious
On the SAT, all of the Reading Test questions are multiple choice and are based on reading passages that may be taken from literature, science, the social sciences, or a U.S. founding document (or a text inspired by such a document). Many of the reading comprehension questions meant to assess a student’s understanding of those passages will require students to choose words that best describe the writer’s tone or point of view, words like the 25 words you see on this list. Learn them here so when you see them in an SAT answer choice, you’ll know what they mean! Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
Context is king — that’s the lesson you need to internalize as you begin preparing for the vocabulary questions on the SAT. We have identified this pool of 200 words that cut across the disciplines and lend themselves well to context-dependent interpretation. As you learn this list on Vocabulary.com, you will have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in particular sentences. This is the same type of thinking you will need to develop in order to succeed on the SAT! Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
On the New SAT, all of the Reading Test questions are multiple choice and are based on reading passages that may be taken from literature, science, the social sciences, or a US founding document (or a text inspired by such a document). Many of the reading comprehension questions meant to assess a student’s understanding of those passages will require students to choose words that best describe the writer’s tone or point of view, words like the 200 words you see on this list. Learn them here so when you see them in an SAT answer choice, you’ll know what they mean! Here are all of our word lists to help you prepare for the new SAT (debuting March of 2016): The Language of the Test, Multiple-Meaning Words, and Words to Capture Tone.