sepulchre: His body is in the sepulchre. ADJ 3
serious: The government still faces very serious difficulties.
criticaclass="underline" Its day-to-day finances are in a critical state.
severe: I suffered from severe bouts of depression.
grave|digger /gre I vd I gə r / (gravediggers ) N‑COUNT A gravedigger is a person whose job is to dig the graves in which dead people can be buried.
grav|el /græ v ə l/ N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Gravel consists of very small stones. It is often used to make paths. □ …a gravel path leading to the front door.
grav|elled /græ v ə ld/ in AM, use graveled ADJ [ADJ n] A gravelled path, road, or area has a surface made of gravel.
grav|el|ly /græ vəli/
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] A gravelly voice is low and rather rough and harsh. □ There's a triumphant note in his gravelly voice.
2 ADJ A gravelly area of land is covered in or full of small stones. □ Water runs through the gravelly soil very quickly.
grave|side /gre I vsa I d/ (gravesides ) N‑COUNT [usu sing, oft at N ] You can refer to the area around a grave as the graveside , usually when you are talking about the time when someone is buried. □ Both women wept at his graveside.
grave|stone /gre I vstoʊn/ (gravestones ) N‑COUNT A gravestone is a large stone with words carved into it, which is placed on a grave.
grave|yard /gre I vjɑː r d/ (graveyards )
1 N‑COUNT A graveyard is an area of land, sometimes near a church, where dead people are buried. □ They made their way to a graveyard to pay their traditional respects to the dead.
2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] If you call a place a graveyard of particular things, you mean that there are many broken or unwanted things of that kind there. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [+ of ] This had once been the greatest port in the world, now it was a graveyard of rusting cranes.
gra ve|yard shi ft (graveyard shifts ) N‑COUNT If someone works the graveyard shift , they work during the night. [mainly AM ]
gravi|tas /græ v I tæs/ N‑UNCOUNT If you say that someone has gravitas , you mean that you respect them because they seem serious and intelligent. [FORMAL ] □ He is pale, dark, and authoritative, with the gravitas you might expect of a Booker prize winner.
gravi|tate /græ v I te I t/ (gravitates , gravitating , gravitated ) VERB If you gravitate towards a particular place, thing, or activity, you are attracted by it and go to it or get involved in it. □ [V + towards/to ] Traditionally young Asians in Britain have gravitated towards medicine, law and engineering. [Also V prep/adv]
gravi|ta|tion /græ v I te I ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT In physics, gravitation is the force which causes objects to be attracted towards each other because they have mass. [TECHNICAL ]
gravi|ta|tion|al /græ v I te I ʃən ə l/ ADJ [ADJ n] Gravitational means relating to or resulting from the force of gravity. [TECHNICAL ] □ If a spacecraft travels faster than 11 km a second, it escapes the earth's gravitational pull.
grav|ity /græ v I ti/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Gravity is the force which causes things to drop to the ground. □ Arrows would continue to fly forward forever were it not for gravity, which brings them down to earth.
2 → see also centre of gravity
3 N‑UNCOUNT The gravity of a situation or event is its extreme importance or seriousness. □ [+ of ] They deserve punishment which matches the gravity of their crime.
4 N‑UNCOUNT The gravity of someone's behaviour or speech is the extremely serious way in which they behave or speak. □ There was an appealing gravity to everything she said.
gra|vy /gre I vi/ (gravies ) N‑VAR Gravy is a sauce made from the juices that come from meat when it cooks.
gra |vy boat (gravy boats ) N‑COUNT A gravy boat is a long narrow jug that is used to serve gravy.
gra |vy train (gravy trains ) N‑COUNT [oft on the N ] If an organization or person earns a lot of money without doing much work, you can say that they are on the gravy train . [JOURNALISM , DISAPPROVAL ] □ We are overworked and underpaid while they are always on the gravy train.
gray /gre I / → see grey
gray|ing /gre I I ŋ/ → see greying
graze /gre I z/ (grazes , grazing , grazed )
1 VERB When animals graze or are grazed , they eat the grass or other plants that are growing in a particular place. You can also say that a field is grazed by animals. □ [V ] Five cows graze serenely around a massive oak. □ [be V -ed] The hills have been grazed by sheep because they were too steep to be ploughed. □ [V n] Several horses grazed the meadowland. □ [V -ing] …a large herd of grazing animals.
2 VERB If you graze a part of your body, you injure your skin by scraping against something. □ [V n] I had grazed my knees a little. ● grazed ADJ □ …grazed arms and legs.
3 N‑COUNT A graze is a small wound caused by scraping against something.
4 VERB If something grazes another thing, it touches that thing lightly as it passes by. □ [V n] A bullet had grazed his arm.
graz|ing /gre I z I ŋ/ N‑UNCOUNT Grazing or grazing land is land on which animals graze. □ He had nearly a thousand acres of grazing and arable land.