engrave
Americanverb (used with object)
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engraves,
present (3rd person singular)
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engraved,
past participle, past
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engraving
present participle
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to chase (letters, designs, etc.) on a hard surface, as of metal, stone, or the end grain of wood.
She had the jeweler engrave her name on the back of the watch.
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to print from such a surface.
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to mark or ornament with incised letters, designs, etc..
He engraved the ring in a floral pattern.
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to impress deeply; infix.
That image is engraved on my mind.
verb
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to inscribe (a design, writing, etc) onto (a block, plate, or other surface used for printing) by carving, etching with acid, or other process
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to print (designs or characters) from a printing plate so made
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to fix deeply or permanently in the mind
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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engravernoun
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underengravernoun
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reengraveverb (used with object)
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superengraveverb (used with object)
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engravableadjective
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unengravedadjective
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well-engravedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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engravesimple
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engravessimple
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have engravedperfect
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has engravedperfect
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am engravingprogressive
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are engravingprogressive
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is engravingprogressive
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have been engravingperfect progressive
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has been engravingperfect progressive
Past
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engravedsimple
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had engravedperfect
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was engravingprogressive
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were engravingprogressive
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had been engravingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of engrave
Explanation
To engrave is to carve into something, especially stone. Sometimes people have messages engraved inside their wedding rings, their iPods, or any other rock-hard surface that can handle it. Words are engraved on tombstones to honor the people who died. Grave used to mean “to dig or carve” but no one uses it that way anymore because they would say engrave instead. Anytime a hard surface has a message or picture cut into, it was engraved. Sometimes engraving isn’t physical. A super fun birthday when your long lost grandmother rode in on a stallion could be engraved in your mind forever. Both kinds of engraving leave an impression.
Vocabulary lists containing engrave
Frindle
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The Marvels
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The Renaissance and Reformation, Lessons 1–2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Everyone who the company hires to engrave starts with zero experience, and part of the challenge is the process itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Before, to engrave the circuits on the silicon plates used in electronic devices like mobile phones, it was necessary to use polluting chemical products.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2024
Might as well engrave the nameplate on the NFL offensive rookie of the year award now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
I also love the fact that they could have put it in a font, in something computer-generated, but they chose to engrave it in my handwriting.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 7, 2023
“A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on your floor, whatever.”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Employing a nano-imprinting process that engraves the pattern like a stamp, the team achieved the rapid and inexpensive production of metalenses that are 20,000 times larger than conventional ones.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
He said that many local business in the area, including his own, which engraves stone, had offered their time and resources to restore the structure.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
A machine engraves information on an ingot of 99.98 percent pure palladium at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia March 10, 2022.
From Reuters ● May 15, 2022
And it is the distance between this country and the ideals it engraves upon marble edifices.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2021
They say that Brahma, when a man is produced, engraves his doings and sufferings in written characters on his skull, and that his life must take shape in accordance therewith.
From The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; On Human Nature by T. Bailey (Thomas Bailey) Saunders
The US president has received a luxury jumbo jet, an engraved gold bar, a diamond-and-jewel encrusted gold ring, and more.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The words are literally institutionalized, engraved on a bell at the UC Santa Barbara campus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Evans told Owen that she unexpectedly burst into tears while watching his Emmy awards being engraved, saying that was the moment it "sank in".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
The book comes with engraved wooden medallions sourced from poplar trees at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate, that are illustrated by contemporary artists with thematic imagery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Now that I’m close enough to him, I can take in the details of the chair’s solid gold rims and customized engraved leather.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
We see Holbein’s image of Anne multiplying through an 18th-century oil portrait; Jacob Houbraken’s 1738 engraving and a constellation of miniature copies; and Queen Victoria’s sketch of Giulia Grisi singing in Donizetti’s opera “Anna Bolena.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Each ring will include a mini World Cup trophy in its design and an engraving in the band.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Compromise - if the Carolina Hurricanes owner wants to do this how about just engraving ‘The Dundon Family’ instead of each name?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
More than 40,000 years ago, early humans were already engraving symbols onto tools, figurines, and other objects.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
He would buy the engraving of St. Clement’s Dane, take it out of its frame, and carry it home concealed under the jacket of his overalls.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
