seriousness

/ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/

//ˈsɪɹiəsnəs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"seriousness" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“seriousness” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,808. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,808
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
14
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state or quality of being serious.

Corpus desk

Index EN-seriousness · seriousness · English

seriousness · rank #13,808 · 14 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,808
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH scratching

Nearest frequency peer: scratching (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “seriousness”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “seriousness” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for seriousness
PropertyValue
Headwordseriousness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/
Letters11
Frequency rank#13,808
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “seriousness”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).seriousnesslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “scratching” (#13,807), “sheila” (#13,809), “schizophrenia” (#13,806). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “seriousness” is #13,808. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around seriousness (IPA /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,808 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The state or quality of being serious.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for seriousness, with forms such as "esriousness", "seirousness", and "seriosuness". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From serious + -ness. The correct English form is seriousness, spelled S-E-R-I-O-U-S-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The state or quality of being serious.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how seriousness appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
  2. ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

Etymology

From serious + -ness.

This word in other languages

seriedad(Español)sériosité(Français)Ernsthaftigkeit(Deutsch)seriedade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • esriousness
  • seirousness
  • seriosuness
  • seriounsess
  • seriousenss
  • seriousnes
  • seriousnness
  • seriousnses
  • serioussness
  • seriuosness
  • seroiusness
  • serriousness
  • sreiousness
  • sseriousness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of seriousness - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

esriousness2seirousness2seriosuness2seriounsess2seriousenss2seriousnes1seriousnness1seriousnses2
Edit distance from "seriousness"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "seriousness"?
"seriousness" is spelled S-E-R-I-O-U-S-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/.
What does "seriousness" mean?
As a noun, "seriousness" means: The state or quality of being serious.
What are common misspellings of "seriousness"?
Common misspellings include "esriousness", "seirousness", "seriosuness", "seriounsess", "seriousenss". The correct spelling is "seriousness".
How do you pronounce "seriousness"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "seriousness" is /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "seriousness"?
From serious + -ness. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "seriousness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Revelations#13,798superficial#13,819overlapping#13,776bureaucracy#13,877

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

Stevenson14 variantssubmitting14 variantsrepetitive14 variantsprogrammer14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list