1. (noun)earnestness, seriousness, sincerity an earnest and sincere feeling
2. (noun)seriousness, distressfulness the quality of arousing fear or distress "he learned the seriousness of his illness"
3. (noun)seriousness, earnestness, serious-mindedness, sincerity the trait of being serious
"a lack of solemnity is not necessarily a lack of seriousness"- Robert Rice