serious

se|ri|ous [ `sıriəs ] adjective ***

▸ 1 bad enough to worry you

▸ 2 deserving attention

▸ 3 not joking

▸ 4 careful and detailed

▸ 5 not laughing much

▸ 6 involving difficult ideas

▸ 7 involving strong feelings

▸ 8 caring about activity

▸ 9 extreme/large in amount

1. ) bad or dangerous enough to make you worried:

a serious illness/accident/injury: a serious head injury

a serious problem/mistake: It's not a serious problem we should be able to fix it easily.

a serious crime/offense/threat: An accident like this poses a serious threat to the environment.

The sale of the company will have serious implications for people's jobs.

2. ) important and deserving attention:

This is an extremely serious matter.

He has no serious competition for the job.

3. ) meaning what you say or do, and not making a joke:

I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were being serious.

The police have made no serious attempt to address these issues.

serious about: I'm not convinced they're serious about the deal.

serious about doing something: Do you think Mike's serious about going to live in New York?

deadly/dead (=completely) serious: Are you serious about leaving your job? Dead serious.

a ) be serious SPOKEN used for telling someone that you think what they are saying is not sensible:

Be serious! How would we pay for a vacation in the Bahamas?

you can't be serious: You can't be serious! You're actually going to lend him money again?

b ) I'm serious SPOKEN used for emphasizing that you mean what you say:

I'm serious. I don't ever want to see you again.

4. ) careful and detailed:

serious consideration/thought/discussion: We'll have to give the situation some serious thought.

5. ) someone who is serious thinks carefully about things and does not laugh much:

Peter seems serious but he actually has a good sense of humor.

a ) appearing worried or upset:

Is Mary all right? She looked a little serious.

6. ) usually before noun dealing with important, complicated, or difficult ideas or subjects:

serious books/music

7. ) if you are in a serious romantic relationship with someone, you intend to stay together for a long time:

Is it getting serious with you and June?

a serious boyfriend/girlfriend/relationship: He's never had a serious relationship with anyone.

8. ) involved in an activity in a way that shows you like it a lot and think it is important:

My father is a serious runner.

9. ) INFORMAL extreme, or large in amount:

We did some serious hiking last weekend.

It's time you made some serious money.

╾ se|ri|ous|ness noun uncount