different between true vs earnest

English

Alternative forms

• trew, trewe (obsolete)
• troo (nonstandard)
• tr00 (leet)

Etymology

From Middle English trewe, from Old English tr?ewe, (Mercian) tr?owe (“trusty, faithful”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (compare Saterland Frisian trjou (“honest”), Dutch getrouw and trouw, German treu, Norwegian and Swedish trygg (“safe, secure’”), from pre-Germanic *drewh?yos, from Proto-Indo-European *drewh?- (“steady, firm”) (compare Irish dearbh (“sure”), Old Prussian druwis (“faith”), Ancient Greek ????? (droón, “firm”)), extension of *dóru (“tree”). More at tree.

For the semantic development, compare Latin robustus (“tough”) from robur (“red oak”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /t?u?/
• (US) enPR: tr?? IPA^(key): /t?u/, [t???ü]
• (archaic) IPA^(key): /t?ju?/
• (now dialectal) IPA^(key): /t????/
• Rhymes: -u?

Adjective

true (comparative truer or more true, superlative truest or most true)

1. (of a statement) Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
2. Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
3. (logic) Of the state in Boolean logic that indicates an affirmative or positive result.

4. Loyal, faithful.

5. Genuine; legitimate.
6. Used in the designation of group of species, or sometimes a single species, to indicate that it belongs to the clade its common name (which may be more broadly scoped in common speech) is restricted to in technical speech, or to distinguish it from a similar species, the latter of which may be called false.

7. (of an aim or missile in archery, shooting, golf, etc.) Accurate; following a path toward the target.
8. (chiefly probability) Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
   • 1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, ?ISBN, page 8:

     Let ${\displaystyle Z_{t}}$ be twice the value of a true die shown on the ${\displaystyle t}$-th toss.

   • 2006, Judith A. Baer, Leslie Friedman Goldstein, The Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change ?ISBN

     In fact, few profit margins can be predicted with such reliability as those provided by a true roulette wheel or other game of chance.

   • 2012, Peter Sprent, Applied Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Springer Science & Business Media ?ISBN, page 5

     We do not reject, because 9 heads and 3 tails is in a set of reasonably likely results when we toss a true coin.

9. (Of a literary genre) based on actual historical events.

Antonyms

• (of a statement, logic, loyal): false
• untrue

Derived terms

Related terms

• truth

Translations

Adverb

true (not comparable)

1. (of shooting, throwing etc) Accurately.

Translations

Noun

true (countable and uncountable, plural trues)

1. (uncountable) The state of being in alignment.
   • 1904, Lester Gray French, Machinery, Volume 10:

     Some toolmakers are very careless when drilling the first hole through work that is to be bored, claiming that if the drilled hole comes out of true somewhat it can be brought true with the boring tool.

   • 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald, O Russet Witch! in Tales of the Jazz Age:

     She clapped her hands happily, and he thought how pretty she was really, that is, the upper part of her face—from the bridge of the nose down she was somewhat out of true.

   • 1988, Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free, Baen Publishing, ?ISBN, page 96:

     The crate shifted on its pallet, out of sync now. As the lift withdrew, the crate skidded with it, dragged by friction and gravity, skewing farther and farther from true.
2. (uncountable, obsolete) Truth.
3. (countable, obsolete) A pledge or truce.

Derived terms

• in true
• out of true

Translations

Verb

true (third-person singular simple present trues, present participle trueing or truing, simple past and past participle trued)

1. To straighten (of something that is supposed to be straight).

2. To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust.

Usage notes

• Often followed by up.

Derived terms

• true-up

Translations

Anagrams

• -uret, rute

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse þrúga, Proto-Germanic *þr?g?n?, cognate with Swedish truga. The verb is related to Danish trykke and German drücken (“to press”) (= *þrukkijan?), but apparently not to German drohen (“threaten”) (= *þraujan?) or English threaten (= *þraut?n?).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tru??/, [?t???u?u], [?t???o?o]

Verb

true (past tense truede, past participle truet)

1. to threaten

Inflection

Further reading

• “true” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “true” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Middle English

Adjective

true

1. Alternative form of trewe

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse þrúga

Verb

true (imperative tru, present tense truer, passive trues, simple past and past participle trua or truet)

1. to threaten

Derived terms

• truende
• utrydningstruet

Related terms

• trussel

References

• “true” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• trua, truge

Etymology

From Old Norse þrúga

Verb

true (present tense truar, past tense trua, past participle trua, passive infinitive truast, present participle truande, imperative tru)

1. to threaten

Related terms

• trussel

References

• “true” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n?st/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???n?st/
• Homophone: Ernest

Etymology 1

From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”). Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”).

The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, serious”), from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian ernste (“earnest”), Middle Low German ernest, ernst (“serious, earnest”), German ernst (“serious, earnest”).

Noun

earnest (uncountable)

1. Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
   • 1914, February 13, The Times, Obituary: Canon Augustus Jessopp

     He wrote well in a forcible, colloquial style, with the air of being tremendously in earnest, and full of knowledge which overflowed his pages, tricked out with somewhat boisterous illustrations.

   • c. 1575-a 1586, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

     Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III: Act 5, Scene 1

     That high All-Seer which I dallied with

     Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head

     And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.

2. Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)

Derived terms

• earnestful
• in earnest

Translations

Verb

earnest (third-person singular simple present earnests, present participle earnesting, simple past and past participle earnested)

1. (transitive) To be serious with; use in earnest.
   • 1602, Pastor Fido:

     Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.

Adjective

earnest (comparative earnester or more earnest, superlative earnestest or most earnest)

1. (said of an action or an utterance) Serious or honest
2. (with a positive sense) Focused in the pursuit of an objective; eager to obtain or do.

3. Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.

4. (said of a person or a person's character) Possessing or characterised by seriousness.

5. Strenuous; diligent.

6. Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.

Derived terms

• earnestly
• earnestness
• in earnest

Translations

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin; apparently related to erres. Compare also arles.

Noun

earnest (plural earnests)

1. A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.

   • Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 365:

     But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.

Translations

See also

• Earnest
• earnest money

Etymology 3

earn +? -est

Verb

earnest

1. (archaic) second-person singular simple present form of earn

Anagrams

• Eastern, Saetern, Tareens, eastern, estrane, nearest, renates, sterane