Earnest vs Noble - What's the difference?
earnest | noble |
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:
An aristocrat; one of aristocratic blood.
* 1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Courte :
* 1644 , (John Milton), Aeropagitica :
* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 93:
Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character.
Grand; stately; magnificent; splendid.
*, chapter=5
, title= Of exalted rank; of or relating to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn.
As proper nouns the difference between earnest and noble
is that earnest is , an occasional spelling variant of ernest while noble is .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.
See also
* Earnest * earnest moneyAnagrams
* * * *noble
English
(wikipedia noble)Noun
(en noun)- This country house was occupied by nobles in the 16th century.
- I lyked no thynge his playe, / For yf I had not quyckely fledde the touche, / He had plucte oute the nobles of my pouche.
- And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.
- There, before the high altar, as the choir's voices soared upwards to the blue, star-flecked ceiling, Henry knelt and made his offering of a ‘noble in gold’, 6s 8d.
Antonyms
* commoner * plebeianHyponyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* half-noble * noble gasAdjective
(en adjective)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}