seriously

adv

1. In a serious or literal manner.

   “He was hoping that we would take him seriously.”

   “Jimmy jokingly called Bob a doofus. Bob took the insult seriously.”

   ““I’ll qualify the statement, then,” she answered, with a laugh. “We have known each other for two ages—hers and mine. But seriously we are as dear to each other as sisters, and now that I am going to lose her I am almost heartbroken.””

   “Masters and Johnson wanted their work to be taken seriously, and wanted to stay a step ahead of the morality police, so they tended to write in almost comically dense medicalese.”

   “Jeremy, meanwhile, was the fun-lover, like me, who didn't always take it too seriously.”

2. Gravely; deeply; very much.

   “That was a seriously unpleasant thing to say.”

3. Used to attempt to introduce a serious point in a less serious conversation.

   “Now, seriously, why did you forget to feed the cat today?”

4. Used to call back to a previous point, in disbelief or for emphasis.

   “You baked ten (10) cakes. Seriously, why did you do that?”

5. (informal)In an extreme or major way; majorly.

   “Unless you're seriously strapped (armed), you're about to be not okay too.”