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gravel

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railways, and as ballast.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

gravuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡɹævəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railways, and as ballast.

  2. A type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.

  3. Rock fragments and pebbles

  4. uncountablegeology

    A particle from 2 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

  5. A lameness in the foot of a horse, usually caused by an abscess.

verb

  1. transitive

    To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

  2. transitive

    To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.

  3. transitive

    To puzzle or annoy.

  4. transitive

    To check or stop; to confound; to perplex.

  5. Cover with gravel

  6. transitive

    To apply a layer of gravel to the surface of a road, etc.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railways, and as ballast.

Used this way, gravel is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Mild
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use gravel

  • “We parked the car on a patch of gravel next to the main road.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

gravel roadgravel pitpea gravelgravel pathcoarse gravelgravel walkgravel bedloose gravel

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • gravelyadverbDerived adverb

    In a grave and sober manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • gravel pitnounCompound term

    A quarry for gravel.

  • bank gravelnounCompound term

    Gravel as found in natural deposits.

  • pit-run gravelnounCompound term

    Gravel as found in natural deposits.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.