engage

[ en-geyj ]
See synonyms for: engageengagedengagesengaging on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),en·gaged, en·gag·ing.
  1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.

  2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker;to engage a room.

  1. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.

  2. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.

  3. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.

  4. to betroth (usually used in the passive): They were engaged last week.

  5. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.

  6. Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.

  7. to attach or secure.

  8. Obsolete. to entangle or involve.

verb (used without object),en·gaged, en·gag·ing.
  1. to occupy oneself; become involved: to engage in business or politics.

  2. to take employment: She engaged in her mother's business.

  1. to pledge one's word; assume an obligation: I was unwilling to engage on such terms.

  2. to cross weapons; enter into conflict: The armies engaged early in the morning.

  3. Mechanics. (of gears or the like) to interlock.

Origin of engage

1
First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French engager, Old French engagier; see en-1, gage1

Other words for engage

Opposites for engage

Other words from engage

  • en·gag·er, noun

Other definitions for engagé (2 of 2)

engagé
[ French ahn-ga-zhey ]

adjective
  1. choosing to involve oneself in or commit oneself to something: Some of the political activists grew less engagé as the years passed.

Origin of engagé

2
First recorded in 1950–55; from French: literally, “engaged”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use engage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for engage (1 of 2)

engage

/ (ɪnˈɡeɪdʒ) /


verb(mainly tr)
  1. to secure the services of; employ

  2. to secure for use; reserve: engage a room

  1. to involve (a person or his attention) intensely; engross; occupy

  2. to attract (the affection) of (a person): her innocence engaged him

  3. to draw (somebody) into conversation

  4. (intr) to take part; participate: he engages in many sports

  5. to promise (to do something)

  6. (also intr) military to begin an action with (an enemy)

  7. to bring (a mechanism) into operation: he engaged the clutch

  8. (also intr) to undergo or cause to undergo interlocking, as of the components of a driving mechanism, such as a gear train

  9. machinery to locate (a locking device) in its operative position or to advance (a tool) into a workpiece to commence cutting

Origin of engage

1
C15: from Old French engagier, from en- 1 + gage a pledge, see gage 1

Derived forms of engage

  • engager, noun

British Dictionary definitions for engagé (2 of 2)

engagé

/ French (ɑ̃ɡaʒe) /


adjective
  1. (of a writer or artist, esp a man) morally or politically committed to some ideology

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012