| Main Entry: | serious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | somber, humorless |
Synonyms: |
austere, bound, bound and determined, businesslike, cold sober, contemplative, deadpan, deliberate, determined, downbeat, earnest, funereal, genuine, go for broke, grave, grim, honest, intent, long-faced, meditative, no-nonsense, pensive, pokerfaced, reflective, resolute, resolved, sedate, set, severe, sincere, sober, solemn, staid, steady, stern, thoughtful, unhumorous, unsmiling, weighty |
Antonyms: |
flippant, funny, happy, light |
| Main Entry: | serious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | crucial, weighty |
Synonyms: |
arduous, dangerous, deep, difficult, far-reaching, fateful, fell, formidable, grave, grievous, grim, hard, heavy, important, laborious, major, meaning business, meaningful, menacing, momentous, no joke, no laughing matter, of consequence, operose, out for blood, playing hard ball, pressing, severe, significant, smoking, sobering, strenuous, strictly business, threatening, tough, ugly, unamusing, unhumorous, urgent, worrying |
Antonyms: |
light, minor, trivial, unimportant, unserious |
| Main Entry: | acute |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very important |
Synonyms: |
afflictive, critical, crucial, dangerous, decisive, desperate, dire, essential, grave, serious, severe, sudden, urgent, vital |
| Notes: | acute is used for a sudden onset and short duration; chronic is for conditions that are slow to develop and of long duration acute is an angle of less than 90 degrees; obtuse is one of more than 90 degrees chronic is contrasted with acute as chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments |
Antonyms: |
not serious, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | austere |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe in manner |
Synonyms: |
ascetic, astringent, cold, earnest, exacting, forbidding, formal, grave, grim, hard, harsh, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, rigid, rigorous, serious, sober, solemn, somber, stern, stiff, strict, stringent, unfeeling, unrelenting |
Antonyms: |
bland, calm, gentle, meek, mild |
| Main Entry: | bad |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe |
Synonyms: |
disastrous, distressing, grave, harsh, intense, painful, serious, terrible |
| Main Entry: | big |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
Synonyms: |
big league, big-time, consequential, considerable, eminent, heavy-duty, heavyweight, influential, leading, main, major league, material, meaningful, momentous, paramount, popular, powerful, prime, principal, prominent, serious, significant, substantial, super, super colossal, valuable, weighty |
Antonyms: |
blah, bland, dull, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | big league |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
Synonyms: |
big-time, chief, critical, crucial, exceptional, four-star, front-page, grave, great, heavy, high-power, major-league, playing hard ball, professional, serious, strictly business |
| Main Entry: | businesslike |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | efficient, professional |
Synonyms: |
accomplished, careful, concentrated, correct, diligent, direct, disciplined, earnest, effective, enterprising, expeditious, hardworking, industrious, intent, matter-of-fact, methodical, orderly, organized, painstaking, practical, practiced, purposeful, regular, routine, sedulous, serious, skillful, systematic, thorough, well-ordered, workaday |
Antonyms: |
amateur, disorganized, inefficient, unbusinesslike, unprofessional |
| Main Entry: | composed |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | calm, collected |
Synonyms: |
at ease, calmed, clearheaded, commonsensical, confident, cool, cool as cucumber, disimpassioned, dispassionate, easy, easygoing, have one's act together, imperturbable, keeping a stiff upper lip, keeping one's shirt on, levelheaded, nonchalant, not turn a hair, placid, poised, possessed, quieted, relaxed, repressed, sedate, self-assured, self-possessed, sensible, serene, serious, soothed, staid, suppressed, sure of oneself, temperate, together, tranquil, unflappable, unruffled, untroubled |
Antonyms: |
agitated, angered, annoyed, aroused, distressed, excited, perturbed, upset, worried |
| Main Entry: | consequential |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | significant |
Synonyms: |
big, considerable, eventful, far-reaching, grave, important, material, meaningful, momentous, serious, substantial, weighty |
Antonyms: |
inconsequential, insignificant, uneventful, unimportant |