I hear that gravity is a contour in spacetime, or something like that. Does that mean that a gravity wave is a ripple in space or a travelling wave of pinched

I hear that gravity is a contour in spacetime, or something like that. Does that mean that a gravity wave is a ripple in space or a travelling wave of pinched or stretched space? Also, assuming all that. I think we have 2 ways of squishing space this way : mass and acceleration. Are there any others?