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earnest
used in Main Street

10 uses
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Definition
characterized by sincere belief

or:

intensely or excessively serious
  • The earnest virgins were, she fancied, as likely to do harm as to do good by their faith in the value of parsing Caesar.
    Chapter 1 (31% in)
  • He gravely taught them the letters on the backs of the encyclopedias, and when polite visitors asked about the mental progress of the "little ones," they were horrified to hear the children earnestly repeating A-And, And-Aus, Aus-Bis, Bis-Cal, Cal-Cha.
    Chapter 1 (64% in)
  • But still, they are so earnest.
    Chapter 5 (84% in)
  • Kennicott went from shop to shop, earnestly hunting down a felt-covered device to keep the windshield of his car clear of rain.
    Chapter 17 (68% in)
  • They were exhilarated to find that they agreed in confession of faith: "People like Sam Clark and Harry Haydock aren't earnest about music and pictures and eloquent sermons and really refined movies, but then, on the other hand, people like Carol Kennicott put too much stress on all this art.
    Chapter 21 (55% in)
  • Hugh lay on his stomach, making an earnest business of sleeping.
    Chapter 23 (32% in)
  • He turned squarely from her and, peering earnestly at Kennicott, resumed, "Doctor, what's been your experience with unilateral pyelonephritis?
    Chapter 24 (87% in)
  • Kennicott was upon his back, flapping his hands in the earnest effort to be a seal, thrilled by the strength with which his son kicked him.
    Chapter 25 (64% in)
  • But as she dusted the living-room, mended a collar-band, bathed Hugh, she was picturing herself and a young artistan Apollo nameless and evasive—building a house in the Berkshires or in Virginia; exuberantly buying a chair with his first check; reading poetry together, and frequently being earnest over valuable statistics about labor; tumbling out of bed early for a Sunday walk, and chattering (where Kennicott would have yawned) over bread and butter by a lake.
    Chapter 29 (83% in)
  • Vida Sherwin had given her a letter to an earnest woman with eye-glasses, plaid silk waist, and a belief in Bible Classes, who introduced her to the Pastor and the Nicer Members of Tincomb.
    Chapter 37 (29% in)

There are no more uses of "earnest" in Main Street.

Typical Usage  (best examples)
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