noun · formal
seriousness
UK/ˈsɪəriəsnəs/US/ˈsɪriəsnəs/SE·ri·ous·ness
Band 5-6task2speaking
the quality of being important and deserving attention; the degree to which something is bad or urgent
Examples
“The seriousness of climate change cannot be ignored.”
“He misunderstood the seriousness of the offence.”
“Teachers need to convey the seriousness of time management to students.”
Band 8 sentence
“Any effective policy must reflect the seriousness of the issue and allocate adequate resources.”
Collocations
- the seriousness of the problem
- take something seriously
- assess the seriousness
Word family
serious adjectiveseriousness nounseriously adverb
Common mistakes
the seriousness is big→the seriousness is great
take it in serious→take it seriously
Say it for a higher band
5important→6serious→7+seriousness
Synonyms
gravity
severity
Easily confused
severity
“The severity of the storm surprised the local authorities.”
Related words
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In -ness
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