Graven
adj, name, verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 past participle of grave form-of, participle, past
"Deep lines were graven on her pale forehead, and on her wan, thin cheeks."
- 2 To make graven or engraved archaic, transitive
"I saw I was not only gravened upon the palms of his hands, or set as a seal upon his arm, but I was pourtrayed upon his heart."
- 3 To make or become grave (serious or sombre) ambitransitive
"Whatever it was that had cast a dark shadow and gravened the faces of those normally ebullient people was much too complicated for me to understand."
- 1 carved, engraved not-comparable
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."
- 1 cut or impressed into a surface wordnet
- 2 cut into a desired shape wordnet
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"What is graven on a stone isn't written for no reason."
Etymology
From Middle English graven, igraven, from Old English grafen, ġegrafen, from Proto-Germanic *grabanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *grabaną (“to dig, trench”).
From graven (adjective) above.
From grave (adjective) + -en.
* As an English surname, a topographic surname for someone living near a ditch, from Middle Low German grav (“moat, ditch”), from Old Saxon graf, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, the source of grave. * As a Norwegian surname, from Old Norse gróf (“depression, hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *grōbō.
Related phrases
More for "graven"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.