How to Use earnestly in a Sentence

earnestly

adverb
  • Those were the days when the All-Star Game had some meaning as each league tried earnestly to win the game.
    — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2024
  • To get them back on track, the teacher asks them earnestly what mariachi means to them.
    — Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2024
  • To get them back on track, the teacher asks them earnestly what mariachi means to them.
    — Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2023
  • Its attendees would respond earnestly to this pulse for much of the evening.
    — Khari Nixon, SPIN, 20 Feb. 2023
  • They were kind, aligned with our mission and values and earnestly wanted to grow.
    — Ross Overline, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Second, Ellis has taken a game of hide and seek a little too earnestly, and no one can find her.
    — Lincee Ray, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022
  • My faith and beliefs — while earnestly and deeply held — should not be a legal basis for the choices of others.
    — Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 8 Aug. 2022
  • This also does a disservice to those who are earnestly trying to learn more about birds.
    — USA TODAY, 22 Jan. 2024
  • For all the joshing, the actors spoke earnestly about working on one of HBO’s flagship series.
    — Sean Piccoli, Deadline, 20 Oct. 2024
  • Khalid Itum worked earnestly and honestly for MoviePass.
    — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 22 Feb. 2023
  • But the video – simply shot, on a bench in front of a spray of spring foliage – showed Kate earnestly sharing her story on her own terms and in her own words.
    — Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024
  • Only by recognizing the most acute pain points can the city move earnestly to do something about them.
    — Jennifer Jones Austin, New York Daily News, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Active research is trying earnestly to crack the code, see my coverage at the link here.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • In one corner, a group of teenage boys wearing glittery eye shadow clasped their hands in prayer and asked, earnestly, to be taken to church.
    — Regine Cabato, Washington Post, 21 July 2023
  • Melvin appeared earnestly surprised when reporters took out their phones to post the news to social media.
    — Andrew Baggarly, The Athletic, 22 Feb. 2025
  • No one in her family knew the identity of the young man gazing earnestly into the camera.
    — Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Dec. 2023
  • The Megan rapper earnestly accepted the apology, even going as far as to place her hands over her heart.
    — Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 2 July 2024
  • Feeding off that, the Panthers pushed back earnestly but couldn’t get anything past Hill in the penalty-free first period.
    — Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2023
  • The man then goes back to talking earnestly about the amusement park’s food options before Varitek interrupts him.
    — John Waller, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Aug. 2022
  • Gaga embraced the weirdness by earnestly supporting the mouse, singing him a ballad and standing up to defend him.
    — Esther Zuckerman, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2025
  • But here these beats play just too earnestly, deflating any potential humor in the film’s last act.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 6 Feb. 2025
  • For some, Anne Hathaway will always be the Princess of Genovia, earnestly searching for meaning and truth as her life is turned upside down.
    — Chris Bellamy and Stephanie Kaloi, EW.com, 2 May 2024
  • The two actors who originated the roles in London and on Broadway came to the big screen in a film that is superbly acted and earnestly detailed.
    — Robert English, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2023
  • But the real Quaid is earnestly, acutely, even painfully aware of his privilege.
    — Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Evening skies should stay fairly clear until clouds move in more earnestly after midnight.
    — A. Camden Walker, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023
  • This is why sellers earnestly pitching their own products can do to such great effect through TikTok videos.
    — Jaimie Ding, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2023
  • To be beset by major problems and denied the right to talk earnestly about them is at the heart of much that has gone wrong in American public life in recent years.
    — Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 6 Feb. 2023
  • On the lawns, where the music roams free along with its listeners, every rule feels relaxed and thus more earnestly respected.
    — Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2023
  • And so, the audience for this book for me is people who are sincerely and earnestly trying to transform the world and also themselves.
    — Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2021
  • But the non-binding hold of Thoth – whether believed earnestly or ironically – paradoxically provides the cover to take a risk.
    — Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'earnestly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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