grave.

1. A place where a dead body is buried, usually in the ground.

2. Serious enough to require careful attention, especially because great harm may result.

3. Serious and composed in expression, manner, or tone, without lightness or amusement.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• dig a grave
• an unmarked grave
• a shallow grave

On the page

Rain collected in the unfinished grave before the mourners arrived.

She found his grave beneath a tree that had not existed when he died.

The doctor’s silence suggested a graver problem than anyone had admitted.

Opening the sealed door would be a grave mistake.

He answered with a grave nod and moved aside.

Usage notes

Burial noun: grave, graves. Adjective: graver, gravest, or more/most grave where natural. Burial and seriousness senses rhyme with save. The accent-mark sense is often pronounced GRAHV with a broad ah vowel; GRAYV is also used. The musical direction is approximately GRAH-vay. Literary engraving verb: graves; graved; graven or graved; graving. Register: neutral. Commonness: common in burial and seriousness senses; other uses are context-specific or literary (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).