grave

¹

[greyv]

noun

1. an excavation made in the earth in which to bury a dead body.

2. any place of interment; a tomb or sepulcher.

   a watery grave.

3. any place that becomes the receptacle of what is dead, lost, or past.

   the grave of unfulfilled ambitions.

4. death.

   O grave, where is thy victory?

grave

²

[greyv, grahv]

adjective

graver, gravest 

1. serious or solemn; sober.

   a grave person;

   grave thoughts.

   Synonyms: thoughtful, staid, sedate
   Antonyms: carefree, frivolous

2. weighty, momentous, or important.

   grave responsibilities.

3. threatening a seriously bad outcome or involving serious issues; critical.

   a grave situation;

   a grave illness.

4. Phonetics.

   1. unaccented.

   2. spoken on a low or falling pitch.

   3. Orthography.,  noting or having a particular diacritic (`) indicating originally a comparatively low pitch (as in Frenchpère ), distinct syllabic value (as in Englishbelovèd ), etc. (acute ).

5. (of colors) dull; somber.

noun

1. Phonetics, Orthography.,  the grave accent.

grave

³

[greyv]

verb (used with object)

graved , graven, graved , graving .

1. to carve, sculpt, or engrave.

2. to impress deeply.

   graven on the mind.

grave

⁴

[greyv]

verb (used with object)

Nautical.

graved, graving 

1. to clean and apply a protective composition of tar to (the bottom of a ship).

grave

⁵

[grah-vey, grah-ve]

adjective

1. slow; solemn.

adverb

1. slowly; solemnly.

grave

¹

/ ɡreɪv /

adjective

1. serious and solemn

   a grave look

2. full of or suggesting danger

   a grave situation

3. important; crucial

   grave matters of state

4. (of colours) sober or dull

5. phonetics

   1. (of a vowel or syllable in some languages with a pitch accent, such as ancient Greek) spoken on a lower or falling musical pitch relative to neighbouring syllables or vowels

   2. of or relating to an accent (`) over vowels, denoting a pronunciation with lower or falling musical pitch (as in ancient Greek), with certain special quality (as in French), or in a manner that gives the vowel status as a syllable nucleus not usually possessed by it in that position (as in English agèd ) Compare acute circumflex

noun

1. a grave accent

grave

²

/ ɡreɪv /

noun

1. a place for the burial of a corpse, esp beneath the ground and usually marked by a tombstone

2. something resembling a grave or resting place

   the ship went to its grave

3. a poetic term for death

4. informal,  to be near death

5. to do something that would have shocked or distressed (someone now dead)

   many modern dictionaries would make Dr Johnson turn in his grave

grave

³

/ ɡreɪv /

verb

1. to cut, carve, sculpt, or engrave

2. to fix firmly in the mind

grave

⁴

/ ɡreɪv /

verb

1. (tr) nautical to clean and apply a coating of pitch to (the bottom of a vessel)

grave

⁵

/ ˈɡrɑːvɪ /

adjective

1. music to be performed in a solemn manner

Other Word Forms

• graveless adjective
• gravelike adjective
• graveward adverb
• gravewards adverb
• gravely adverb
• graveness noun
• ungravely adverb
• graver noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grave¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English græf; cognate with German Grab; grave ³

Origin of grave²

First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin gravis; akin to Greek barýs “heavy”

Origin of grave³

First recorded before 1000; Middle English graven, Old English grafan; cognate with German graben

Origin of grave⁴

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; perhaps akin to gravel

Origin of grave⁵

First recorded in 1575–85; from Italian grave, from Latin gravis “heavy”; grave ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of grave¹

C16: from Old French, from Latin gravis; related to Greek barus heavy; see _gravamen

Origin of grave²

Old English græf; related to Old Frisian gref, Old High German grab, Old Slavonic grobǔ; see _grave ³

Origin of grave³

Old English grafan; related to Old Norse grafa, Old High German graban to dig

Origin of grave⁴

C15: perhaps from Old French grave _gravel

Origin of grave⁵

C17: from Italian: heavy, from Latin gravis

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. make (one) turn / turn over in one's grave, to do something to which a specified dead person would have objected bitterly.

   This production of Hamlet is enough to make Shakespeare turn in his grave.

2. have one foot in the grave, to be so frail, sick, or old that death appears imminent.

   It was a shock to see my uncle looking as if he had one foot in the grave.

see dig one's own grave; from the cradle to the grave; one foot in the grave; turn in one's grave.

Synonym Study

Grave, sober, solemn refer to the condition of being serious in demeanor or appearance. Grave indicates a weighty dignity, or the character, aspect, demeanor, speech, etc., of one conscious of heavy responsibilities or cares, or of threatening possibilities: The jury looked grave while studying the evidence. Sober (from its original sense of freedom from intoxication, and hence temperate, staid, sedate) has come to indicate absence of levity, gaiety, or mirth, and thus to be akin to serious and grave: as sober as a judge; a sober expression on one's face. Solemn implies an impressive seriousness and deep earnestness: The minister's voice was solemn as he announced the text.

Example Sentences

“My own favorite,” Buddy tells us, “was a cold banana pudding—a guarded recipe of the ancient aunt” who took her secret to the grave.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mom and Dad are not going to reach out from beyond the grave to smack some sense into people.

Read more on MarketWatch

All of this is dwarfed by the outsized war on poor people that is steadily killing hundreds of thousands, potentially sending millions to an early grave.

Read more on Salon

The force said while it "regretted" that a "grave miscarriage of justice" had taken place, it maintained its officers acted within the law at the time.

Read more on BBC

“We found exactly what we expected, a mass grave. To be honest I expected to find more bodies,” said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal