Both Uses
earnest
in
Ligeia
(Auto-generated)
- all unmerited, all unworthily bestowed, I at length recognized the principle of her longing with so wildly earnest a desire for the life which was now fleeing so rapidly away.†
*earnest = sincere or serious
- She partly arose, and spoke, in an earnest low whisper, of sounds which she then heard, but which I could not hear—of motions which she then saw, but which I could not perceive.†
Definitions:
-
(1)
(earnest) characterized by sincere belief
or:
intensely or excessively serious or determined -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Earnest can also be used as a name (variant spelling of Ernest), or to signify the seriousness of a pledge made (as when earnest money is included with an offer to purchase a home).