in earnest

idiom

: in an earnest or serious way

The search began in earnest when the police arrived.

After light showers during the day, it began to rain in earnest in the evening.

It's hard to tell if he's making this proposal in earnest.

: not fooling : serious and sincere

We thought he was joking at first, but then we realized that he was in earnest.

Examples of in earnest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Before the war Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) started at the end of last season kicks off in earnest, Monet will have to make it out of the hospital. —

Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 17 May 2024 Advertisement After that, the work of building out the team will begin in earnest. —

Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for in earnest

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'in earnest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.