unjestingadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈdʒɛstɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌənˈdʒɛstɪŋ/ Not jesting or joking; serious, earnest.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > melancholy > seriousness or solemnity > [adjective] > as opposed to jesting or playful
serious1654
unjesting1833
1833 G. Penn Memorials Sir W. Penn II. vi. 176 The unjesting and veridical Evelyn.
1894 Athenæum 23 June 800/1 Until one longs for a dull, unjesting page or two.
1924 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Nov. 802/2 In the first section he writes of the great ships..with unjesting devotion, while in the last they serve only to stage his quips.
2007 Hays (Kansas) Daily News 7 Oct. a4/3 Another un-jesting guess is that the..faculty have all passed the Articles of Association litmus test.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1833