gravelly

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   containing, covered with, or resembling gravel

   The bicycle slipped on a loose, gravelly path.

2. 2
   adj

   rough, low, and rasping in sound, especially when describing a voice

   The singer answered in a gravelly whisper.

From Middle English gravelli, formed from gravel + the adjectival suffix -y. The literal sense describes ground or material full of small stones; the sound sense compares a rough, rasping voice to the friction or texture of gravel.

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