Grave

/ɡɹeɪv/ · noun

Meaning

(strictly) An excavation in the earth as a place of burial..

Definitions by Sense

1. (strictly) An excavation in the earth as a place of burial.
2. (loosely) Any place of interment.
3. (very loosely) Any place containing one or more corpses.
4. (uncountable, by extension) Death, destruction.
5. (by extension, uncountable) Deceased people; the dead.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To dig.
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To carve out or give shape to, by cutting with a chisel; to sculpture.

Example Sentences

He had lain in the grave four days.

Let mee not be ashamed, O Lord, for I haue called vpon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the graue.

They reached the cemetery. The men went right down to a place in the grass where a grave was dug. They ranged themselves all round; and while the priest spoke, the red soil thrown up at the sides kept noiselessly slipping down at the corners.

[…]Meeting is pleasure, parting is a grief; / An inconstant lover is worse than a thief; / A thief can but rob you, and take all you have, / An inconstant lover will bring you to the grave![…]

[…]balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave.

"Hold your jaw, woman! I've had enough to vex me to-day without you startin' your tantrums. You're jealous of the grave. That's wot's the matter with you." "And her brats can insult me as they like - me that 'as cared for you these five years."

He hath graven and digged up a pit.

a. 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson, "Requiem" This be the verse you grave for me / "Here he lies where he longs to be"

Synonyms for grave

Antonyms for grave

Related Words

Word Forms

• graves
• graving
• graved
• graven
• graver
• gravest

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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