Gravely
Americannoun
Explanation
To do something gravely means to do it in a solemn, serious way. When someone gives you bad news, they often say it gravely. If you ask about a sick relative and your dad gravely shakes his head, you'll know that the relative isn't feeling better. Anything you do or say gravely conveys a sense of solemnity. Another way to use this word is to mean "to an alarming degree," like a person who is gravely ill or a gravely mistaken answer to a test question. Gravely is from the adjective grave and its Latin root gravis, "heavy."
Vocabulary lists containing gravely
The Battle of the Labyrinth
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"Little Red Riding Hood" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
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"The Midnight Children" by Dan Gemeinhart, Chapters 1–6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The USS Gravely, a missile-guided destroyer, docked in Trinidad last week while U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2025
On Sunday, guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely arrived in Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation just off Venezuela's coast, as part of the US's largest military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in decades.
From BBC • Oct. 26, 2025
The USS Gravely will dock in Port of Spain from October 26-30, and a contingent of US Marines will conduct joint training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force, it said.
From Barron's • Oct. 24, 2025
Santa Margarita 5, JSerra 1: A three-run triple by Warren Gravely IV in the top of the ninth inning keyed the Eagles’ Trinity League win.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2025
Gravely, when he had done, he made libation and took a sip of honey-hearted wine, giving the cup, then, back into the hands of the young nobleman.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
