Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for EARN'EST-NESS
EARN'EST-NESS, n. [ern'estness.]
- Ardor or zeal in the pursuit of any thing; eagerness; animated desire; as, to seek or ask with earnestness; to engage in a work with earnestness.
- Anxious care; solicitude; intenseness of desire. Dryden.
- Fixed desire or attention; seriousness; as, the charge was maintained with a show of gravity and earnestness.
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