Seriously

//ˈsɪɹ.i.əs li// adv, slang

adv, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a serious or literal manner.

    "He was hoping that we would take him seriously."

  2. 2
    Gravely; deeply; very much.

    "That was a seriously unpleasant thing to say."

  3. 3
    Used to attempt to introduce a serious point in a less serious conversation.

    "Now, seriously, why did you forget to feed the cat today?"

  4. 4
    Used to call back to a previous point, in disbelief or for emphasis.

    "You baked ten (10) cakes. Seriously, why did you do that?"

  5. 5
    In an extreme or major way; majorly. informal

    "Unless you're seriously strapped (armed), you're about to be not okay too."

Adverb
  1. 1
    to a severe or serious degree wordnet
  2. 2
    in a serious manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
in earnestno kiddingno reallyactivelyactuallyall joking aside

Example

More examples

"Seriously though, episode 21 made me almost cry while laughing."

Etymology

From Middle English seriously, sereously, ceryously, seryowslech (“earnestly”), equivalent to serious + -ly.

Related phrases

but seriously folkstake seriously

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.