grave

1 of 6

noun (1)

1
: an excavation (see excavation sense 2) for burial of a body
broadly : a burial place
2
a
: death sense 1a
believes there is life beyond the grave

grave

2 of 6

adjective

ˈgrāv How to pronounce grave (audio)
in sense 3 often
ˈgräv How to pronounce grave (audio)
graver; gravest
1
a
: meriting serious consideration : important
grave problems
b
: likely to produce great harm or danger
a grave mistake
c
: significantly serious : considerable, great
grave importance
d
obsolete : authoritative, weighty
2
: having a serious and dignified quality or demeanor
a grave and thoughtful look
3
a
of an accent mark : having the form `
b
: marked with a grave accent
c
: of the variety indicated by a grave accent
4
: low-pitched in sound
5
: drab in color : somber
gravely adverb
graveness noun
: a grave accent ` used to show that a vowel is pronounced with a fall of pitch (as in ancient Greek), that a vowel has a certain quality (such as è in French), that a final e is stressed and close and that a final o is stressed and low (as in Italian), that a syllable has a degree of stress between maximum and minimum (as in phonetic transcription), or that the e of the English ending -ed is to be pronounced (as in "this cursèd day")

grave

4 of 6

adverb or adjective

gra·​ve ˈgrä-(ˌ)vā How to pronounce grave (audio)
: slowly and solemnly
used as a direction in music

grave

5 of 6

verb (1)

graved; graven ˈgrā-vən How to pronounce grave (audio) or graved; graving

transitive verb

1
a
: to carve or cut (something, such as letters or figures) into a hard surface : engrave
graved the dates of his birth and death on the headstone
b
: to carve or shape with a chisel : sculpture
2
: to impress or fix (a thought, a memory, etc.) deeply
3
archaic : dig, excavate

grave

6 of 6

verb (2)

graved; graving

transitive verb

: to clean and pay with pitch
grave a ship's bottom
Choose the Right Synonym for grave

serious, grave, solemn, sedate, staid, sober, earnest mean not light or frivolous.

serious implies a concern for what really matters.

a serious play about social injustice

grave implies both seriousness and dignity in expression or attitude.

read the proclamation in a grave voice

solemn suggests an impressive gravity utterly free from levity.

a sad and solemn occasion

sedate implies a composed and decorous seriousness.

remained sedate amid the commotion

staid suggests a settled, accustomed sedateness and prim self-restraint.

a quiet and staid community

sober stresses seriousness of purpose and absence of levity or frivolity.

a sober look at the state of our schools

earnest suggests sincerity or often zealousness of purpose.

an earnest reformer

Examples of grave in a Sentence

Noun (1) the forlorn boy put flowers on his mother's grave a rock star who found his early grave in a plane crash a terrible fear of the grave Adjective This violation of school rules is a grave matter. His carelessness could have grave consequences. They have placed themselves in grave danger. I have grave doubts about this plan. suffering from a grave illness The judge issued his ruling with a grave expression. The French word père is written with a grave accent over the first e. Verb (1) the doomed climber graved his initials into the rock face
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Archaeologists searching for graves find third set of remains with gunshot wound On Thursday, Solomon-Simmons and others encouraged Tulsa residents to turn over any documents, diaries and pictures, or share their or their relatives’ stories related to the massacre. Omar Jimenez, CNN, 17 Oct. 2024 An ofrenda is built on top of the grave, filled with flowers, food and pictures. Paola Briseño-Gonzalez, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
Adjective
With nearly three weeks to go until the US election, global geopolitical tensions are high – Russia continues to pressure Ukraine, Taiwan is surrounded by a Chinese military exercise and the situation in the Middle East is grave. Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024 The Nobel Prize–winning author and her ex-lover explore the surprising vitality of a grave illness. Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 14 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for grave 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'grave.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, from Old English græf; akin to Old High German grab grave, Old English grafan to dig

Adjective

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French grave "having authority, weighty, heavy, low (of a sound)," borrowed from Latin gravis "heavy, oppressive, serious," going back to Indo-European *gwreh2-u- "heavy," whence, from zero-grade *gwr̥h2-u-, Gothic kaurjos (accusative plural of presumed *kaurus) "weighty," Greek barýs "heavy," Sanskrit gurúḥ (comparative garīyas) "heavy, weighty, venerable"; from a t-derivative *gwr̥h2-u-to-, Latin brūtus "heavy, inert" (see brute entry 1), Latvian grū̃ts "requiring much effort or pain, hard, heavy, (of a woman) pregnant"; from *gwréh2-mr̥-, with e-grade and a suffix, Tocharian B krāmär "weight, heaviness"

Note: Latin has remade the original u-stem adjective into an i-stem derivative; the same process produced the antonym levis "light in weight" (see light entry 4). The Gothic adjective represented by the form kaurjos has no congeners in other Germanic languages; its appurtenance here has been questioned by some, as Winfred Lehmann ("No acceptable Proto-Indo-European etymology …Possibly the labial element was lost in Germanic, though the lack of cognates outside Gothic makes such assumptions speculative." - A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, 1986).

Noun (2)

derivative of grave entry 2, sense 3

Adverb or adjective

Italian, literally, grave, from Latin gravis

Verb (1)

Middle English, from Old English grafan; akin to Old High German graban to dig, Old Church Slavic pogreti to bury

Verb (2)

Middle English graven

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1539, in the meaning defined at sense 1d

Noun (2)

1609, in the meaning defined above

Adverb Or Adjective

1683, in the meaning defined above

Verb (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Verb (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of grave was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near grave

Cite this Entry

“Grave.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grave. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

grave

1 of 4 verb
graved; graven ˈgrā-vən How to pronounce grave (audio) or graved; graving

grave

2 of 4 noun
1
: a hole dug to bury a body in
2

grave

3 of 4 adjective
ˈgrāv,
 in sense 3 often  ˈgräv
1
a
: deserving serious consideration : important
a grave matter
b
: threatening great harm or danger
received a grave injury
2
: dignified in appearance or manner : solemn, serious
a grave and thoughtful look
3
: of, marked by, or being an accent mark having the form `
gravely adverb
graveness noun

grave

4 of 4 adverb or adjective
gra·​ve
ˈgräv-(ˌ)ā
: in a slow and solemn manner
used as a direction in music
Etymology

Verb

Old English grafan "dig, carve"

Adjective

from early French grave "important, serious, weighty," from Latin gravis "heavy, serious" — related to aggravate, gravity, grieve

Medical Definition

grave

adjective
: very serious : dangerous to life
used of an illness or its prospects
a grave prognosis

More from Merriam-Webster on grave

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