23 uses
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Definition
characterized by sincere belief
or:
intensely or excessively serious
or:
intensely or excessively serious
- He sat by the corpse all night, weeping in bitter earnest.Chapter 34 (82% in)
earnest = sincerity
- Heathcliff,' I said earnestly, 'you must excuse me for troubling you.Chapter 2 (73% in)
- A wild, wicked slip she was — but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish: and, after all, I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company, and oblige you to be quiet that you might comfort her.Chapter 5 (40% in)
- And then Mr. Linton, to mend matters, paid us a visit himself on the morrow, and read the young master such a lecture on the road he guided his family, that he was stirred to look about him, in earnest.Chapter 6 (98% in)
- They DO live more in earnest, more in themselves, and less in surface, change, and frivolous external things.Chapter 7 (91% in)
- She dropped down on her knees by a chair, and set to weeping in serious earnest.Chapter 8 (93% in)
- Joseph objected at first; she was too much in earnest, however, to suffer contradiction; and at last he placed his hat on his head, and walked grumbling forth.Chapter 9 (62% in)
- He was rather too indulgent in humouring her caprices; not from affection, but from pride: he wished earnestly to see her bring honour to the family by an alliance with the Lintons, and as long as she let him alone she might trample on us like slaves, for aught he cared!Chapter 9 (95% in)
- As the guest answered nothing, but took his seat, and looked thoroughly indifferent what sentiments she cherished concerning him, she turned and whispered an earnest appeal for liberty to her tormentor.Chapter 10 (88% in)
- Cannot you inform him that it is frightful earnest?Chapter 12 (10% in)
- 'Don't YOU see that face?' she inquired, gazing earnestly at the mirror.Chapter 12 (27% in)
- But, at last, I think she begins to know me: I don't perceive the silly smiles and grimaces that provoked me at first; and the senseless incapability of discerning that I was in earnest when I gave her my opinion of her infatuation and herself.Chapter 14 (52% in)
- And now he stared at her so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze would bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish: they did not melt.Chapter 15 (36% in)
- At that earnest appeal he turned to her, looking absolutely desperate.Chapter 15 (64% in)
- 'For one hour,' he pleaded earnestly.Chapter 15 (85% in)
- She earnestly supplicated that I would spare her one or two.Chapter 21 (96% in)
- He was in earnest: in love, really.Chapter 22 (66% in)
- 'Well, Ellen, you won't cry about it, will you?' she exclaimed, surprised at my earnestness.Chapter 24 (51% in)
- I, for my part, began to fancy my forebodings were false, and that he must be actually rallying, when he mentioned riding and walking on the moors, and seemed so earnest in pursuing his object.Chapter 25 (96% in)
- She did not stay to retaliate, but re-entered in a minute, bearing a reaming silver pint, whose contents I lauded with becoming earnestness.Chapter 32 (43% in)
- 'Come, then,' he whispered earnestly.Chapter 33 (39% in)
- About HER I won't speak; and I don't desire to think; but I earnestly wish she were invisible: her presence invokes only maddening sensations.Chapter 33 (76% in)
- He muttered detached words also; the only one I could catch was the name of Catherine, coupled with some wild term of endearment or suffering; and spoken as one would speak to a person present; low and earnest, and wrung from the depth of his soul.Chapter 34 (51% in)
There are no more uses of "earnest" in Wuthering Heights.
Typical Usage
(best examples)