Gravely

How to spell gravely

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce gravely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gravely mean?

1. adverbIn a serious, solemn, or seriously worrying manner.

Gravely in a sentence

• The surgeon spoke gravely about the risks of the operation.

• After the crash she was gravely injured and rushed to intensive care.

Where does gravely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb is built on the adjective 'grave', which English took in the early 1500s from French grave, in turn from the Latin gravis, meaning 'heavy' or 'weighty'. The Romans used gravis both literally, of physical weight, and figuratively, of a person or matter that carried serious importance; that same notion of weightiness gives us 'gravity' and 'grievous'. Adding the native English adverb ending '-ly' produced 'gravely', describing something done in a heavy, solemn, or seriously concerned manner. The spelling trap is that the unrelated 'gravelly' (full of gravel) doubles the l and adds an extra syllable, while 'gravely' keeps the single l of 'grave' with a silent e tucked inside. Remembering that it simply means 'in a grave way' keeps the spelling tied to its root.

How the word is built

• grave (serious, weighty)
• -ly (adverb suffix)