gravel
Americannoun
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small stones and pebbles, or a mixture of these with sand.
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Pathology.
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multiple small calculi formed in the kidneys.
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the disease characterized by such concretions.
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verb (used with object)
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gravels,
present (3rd person singular)
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graveled,
past participle, past
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gravelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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graveling,
present participle
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gravelling
present participle (especially British)
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to cover with gravel.
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to bring to a standstill from perplexity; puzzle.
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Informal. to be a cause of irritation to.
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Obsolete. to run (a ship) aground, as on a beach.
adjective
noun
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an unconsolidated mixture of rock fragments that is coarser than sand
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geology a mixture of rock fragments with diameters in the range 4–76 mm
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pathol small rough calculi in the kidneys or bladder
verb
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to cover with gravel
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to confound or confuse
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informal to annoy or disturb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gravelishadjective
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ungraveledadjective
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ungravelledadjective
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well-graveledadjective
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well-gravelledadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gravelsimple
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gravelssimple
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have graveledperfect
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have gravelledperfect
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has graveledperfect
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has gravelledperfect
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am gravelingprogressive
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am gravellingprogressive
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are gravelingprogressive
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are gravellingprogressive
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is gravelingprogressive
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is gravellingprogressive
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have been gravelingperfect progressive
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have been gravellingperfect progressive
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has been gravelingperfect progressive
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has been gravellingperfect progressive
Past
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graveledsimple
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gravelledsimple
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had graveledperfect
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had gravelledperfect
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was gravelingprogressive
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was gravellingprogressive
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were gravelingprogressive
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were gravellingprogressive
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had been gravelingperfect progressive
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had been gravellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gravel
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French gravele, diminutive of grave sandy shore, perhaps < Celtic; cf. grave 4, growan
Explanation
Gravel is very small, irregular pieces of rock and stone. Your gravel driveway might crunch under your boots as you walk to the mailbox. Roads, paths, walkways, and yards are all sometimes paved with gravel, which is a relatively inexpensive material to use for marking areas and preventing the growth of weeds and other plants. Gravel is more rough and rocky than sand, and smaller than stones. The word gravel comes from the French word gravele, "gravel or sand," which in turn comes from grave, "seashore or sand." The ultimate Proto-Indo-European root may be ghreu, "to rub or grind."
Vocabulary lists containing gravel
Unit 1: Telling Details
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Can You Dig It? Words for Dirt and Soil
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Earth Science - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
The local Shizuoka government and official mountain guides posted video clips and photos from the mountain Thursday morning, showing access roads and gravel trails covered with dense mist and rain.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
He was arguably too aggressive with Lewis Hamilton at the first chicane on the first lap, forcing his team-mate into the gravel and dropping him to 10th, and crashed out a lap later.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
We got out at the northwestern edge of the lagoon, where there are swaths of land that have been churned up by heavy machinery, stretches of gravel, and remnants of fencing.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
The Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally lay in the gravel beside 17 Mile Drive on California’s Monterey Peninsula, where I had dropped it moments before.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Two sets of footsteps in the gravel, moving away from us.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
"Especially species that rely on more natural gravels and variation within the channel - that's the benefit of the meander."
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
"As such, sand and gravels underpin our modern economies, and also are key in many aspects of the UN Sustainable Development Goals," Best said.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2024
"This study is the first-ever report of thiamine compounds in salmon spawning rivers and the associated gravels where salmon spawn," Suffridge said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2024
“Because that tells us the flow pattern, and where there was energy at one particular time. You ask: Where did this water slow down? How are the gravels laid out?”
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2023
The diamonds are found in the sands and gravels of river-beds, associated with alluvial gold, specular iron ore, rutile, anatase, topaz, and tourmaline.
From The Romance of Industry and Invention by Robert Cochrane
The off-leash area would occupy most all of the meadow, which would undoubtedly be fenced and graveled.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
His tone is graveled but youthfully sweet; only his shouts of “saúde!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2022
Seventeen years later, the park includes graveled walking trails equipped with interpretive signs and kiosk exhibits telling the story of those who built the mile-long tunnel with hand tools and explosives between 1870 and 1872.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2020
Winky the cat follows Ada down a graveled path, beyond the barn, past the pony carts, past old apple, pear and peach trees and watches Ada gather fuel for the fire.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 18, 2017
"I didn't know . . . please . . ." "Send Dr. Bledsoe to me," he said, turning away and swinging up the graveled path to the building.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
He said the road was gravelled and changes were made to street signs and lampposts to transport them back to the 1920s.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2022
El Mayor has the biggest diaspora, and conditions remain basic: there is a hodgepodge of improvised houses and old American trailers divided by sandy gravelled roads, barbed-wire fences, and drooping salty pines.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 22, 2019
We walk down the wide, gravelled drive past majestic chestnut trees to see a typical bedroom in the new unit - the chateau's former laundry house.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2016
They are revealing what appears to be a broad gravelled ceremonial road leading towards the river.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 2010
The tall gray motor-buses were the only life of the square except for the pigeons and the man with a hose who sprinkled the gravelled square and watered the streets.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
They spent tens of thousands of dollars clearing brush around the property, graveling their driveway and even installing a concrete roof.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2022
What of the old, graveling question of Polish boundaries?
From Time Magazine Archive
But after 30 years of marriage, in 1953, she divorced him, charging that he left her "abandoned and alone" while working and graveling "to remote places in the world."
From Time Magazine Archive
It was late afternoon before Jon finished graveling the paths.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
"From libel, come libeled, libeler, libeling, libelous; from grovel, groveled, groveler, groveling; from gravel, graveled and graveling."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
The object of the mound is to enable the proprietor to see easily at any time how the tuber is getting on, by just "gravelling" it with his hand.
From Jamaican Song and Story Annancy stories, digging sings, ring tunes, and dancing tunes by Walter Jekyll
In Kew Gardens it was, where I worked gravelling the walks.
From Israel Potter by Herman Melville
What pleasure have we taken in planting and pulling up, digging and scattering, watering and draining, turfing and gravelling!
From Anna St. Ives by Thomas Holcroft
I quote this story as a text on which I wish to speak as to the advantage of gravelling heavy clay soils.
From Essays in Natural History and Agriculture by Thomas Garnett
As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the King turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel's person.
From Israel Potter by Herman Melville
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.
