grave

1. 1.

   dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises

   “a grave God-fearing man”

   “a quiet sedate nature”

   “as sober as a judge”

   “a solemn promise”

   “the judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence”

   Synonymssedatesobersolemn

   Similarserious
2. 2.

   causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

   “a dangerous operation”

   “a grave situation”

   “a grave illness”

   “grievous bodily harm”

   “a serious wound”

   “a serious turn of events”

   “a severe case of pneumonia”

   “a life-threatening disease”

   Synonymsdangerousgrievousseriousseverelife-threatening

   Similarcritical
3. 3.

   of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought

   “grave responsibilities”

   “faced a grave decision in a time of crisis”

   “a grievous fault”

   “heavy matters of state”

   “the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference”

   Synonymsgrievousheavyweighty

   Similarimportant

1. 1.

   shape (a material like stone or wood) by whittling away at it

   “She is sculpting the block of marble into an image of her husband”

   Synonymssculptsculpture

   Broadercarve
2. 2.

   carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface

   “engrave a pen”

   “engraved the trophy cup with the winner's name”

   “the lovers scratched their names into the bark of the tree”

   Synonymsscratchengraveinscribe

   Broadercarve

   Narrowercharacter

Other forms of grave

plural

graves·

past tense or participle

graven

present participle

graving·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about grave

What does grave mean?

grave means "death of a person". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in grave?

grave has 1 syllable: grave. In IPA it is /ˈɡɹeɪv/.

What is another word for grave?

Close synonyms include tomb, grave accent, sedate, sober, solemn. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is grave a common word?

grave is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with grave?

3 words rhyme with grave. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.