What is the difference between eager and earnest?
eager | earnest |
(obsolete) Sharp; sour; acid.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
(rfc-sense) Excited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement.
* Keble
* Hawthorne
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
* John Locke
(comptheory) Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
* Sir Philip Sidney
* Shakespeare
Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to jesting or feigned appearance); fixed determination; eagerness; intentness.
To be serious with; use in earnest.
* 1602 , Pastor Fido:
Serious in speech or action; eager; urgent; importunate; pressing; instant.
Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain or do; zealous with sincerity; with hearty endeavour; heartfelt; fervent; hearty; — used in a good sense; as, earnest prayers .
Intent; fixed closely; as, earnest attention .
Possessing or characterised by seriousness; strongly bent; intent.
Strenuous; diligent.
Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; not trifling or feigned; important.
A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.
* 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 365:
As adjectives the difference between eager and earnest
is that eager is sharp; sour; acid while earnest is serious in speech or action; eager; urgent; importunate; pressing; instant.As nouns the difference between eager and earnest
is that eager is alternative form of lang=en (tidal bore) while earnest is gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.As a verb earnest is
to be serious with; use in earnest.As a proper noun Earnest is
a given name derived from Germanic, an occasional spelling variant of Ernest.eager
English
(Webster 1913)Etymology 1
From (etyl) eger, from (etyl) egre (French aigre), from (etyl) ; see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.Adjective
(er)- like eager droppings into milk
- eager words
- a nipping and an eager air
- When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.
- a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
citation, passage=When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.}}
- Gold will be sometimes so eager , as artists call it, that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself.
- an eager algorithm
Synonyms
* raringDerived terms
* eager beaver * eagerly * eagernessEtymology 2
See (m).External links
* * *Anagrams
*earnest
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ernest, eornest, from (etyl) eornest, eornost, .Noun
(-)- Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest .
- given in earnest what I begged in jest
Derived terms
* earnestful * in earnestVerb
(en verb)- Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) eornest, from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)- an earnest disposition
- earnest efforts
Derived terms
* (l) * (l)Etymology 3
Of uncertain origin; apparently related to (erres). Compare also (l).Noun
(en noun)- But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.