to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons).
He engaged her in conversation.
to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire.
to engage a worker;
to engage a room.
to attract and hold fast.
The novel engaged her attention and interest.
to attract or please.
His good nature engages everyone.
to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable.
He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
to betroth (usually used in the passive).
They were engaged last week.
to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with.
Our army engaged the enemy.
Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.
to attach or secure.
Obsolete. to entangle or involve.
to occupy oneself; become involved.
to engage in business or politics.
to take employment.
She engaged in her mother's business.
to pledge one's word; assume an obligation.
I was unwilling to engage on such terms.
to cross weapons; enter into conflict.
The armies engaged early in the morning.
Mechanics. (of gears or the like) to interlock.
to secure the services of; employ
to secure for use; reserve
engage a room
to involve (a person or his attention) intensely; engross; occupy
to attract (the affection) of (a person)
her innocence engaged him
to draw (somebody) into conversation
(intr) to take part; participate
he engages in many sports
to promise (to do something)
(also intr) military to begin an action with (an enemy)
to bring (a mechanism) into operation
he engaged the clutch
(also intr) to undergo or cause to undergo interlocking, as of the components of a driving mechanism, such as a gear train
machinery to locate (a locking device) in its operative position or to advance (a tool) into a workpiece to commence cutting
First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French engager, Old French engagier; see en- 1 ( def. ), gage 1 ( def. )
First recorded in 1950–55; from French: literally, “engaged”
Engage means to bind, catch, or involve. If your sink is stopped up, engage, or hire, a plumber to fix it. Otherwise the smell of rotten food in the garbage disposal will engage your attention (in a bad way). Engage comes from a French word for pledge. If you agree to marry your sweetheart, you are engaged to marry. If you engage the kid next door to water your plants, she will expect to be paid for it. Engagement is also used to talk about war or conflict. An army engages its enemy in battle, just as you might engage in debate with a traffic cop over whether the light was yellow or red.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Since taking over, Warsh has called for policymakers to engage in a "good family fight" when deciding interest rates.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Younger audiences often encounter global events through social media before they engage with the event itself. Instead of asking consumers to enter Wimbledon's world, the campaign briefly enters theirs."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Were the reporters asleep at the switch or did they knowingly engage in some sort of deal with the 49ers to not release it?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
"When people are under more financial pressure, they may have less time, energy, or willingness to engage in collective action or support policies that are perceived to have economic costs," he says.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
To suffer her to engage herself—to suffer her even to think of such a measure!”
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
Though more engagé than restful, Menand’s “The Free World” is comparably diverting, even at the basement level of the weird factoid.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2021
But as with the title novella, the ironies here are deepened by our foreknowledge of the world that actually awaits the poet: laissez-faire where he wants to be engagé, iron-fisted where he would be free.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2021
This pronouncement has a nicely engagé ring to it—it’s certainly not detached—but it doesn’t entirely convince.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2016
The 32-year-old American illustrator is a cross between a photojournalist chasing hot spots and a 19th-century écrivain engagé who champions causes with art.
From Economist ● Jan. 7, 2016
But there was no fireplace, for when the straits stood locked in ice and the island was deep in snow, no engagé claimed admission here.
From The Chase of Saint-Castin and Other Stories of the French in the New World by Catherwood, Mary Hartwell
At the time, the organization was engaged in rehabilitating its image and getting back into Hollywood’s good graces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
You are actively engaged in managing more than $600,000 of your assets, roughly a quarter of your overall retirement savings, and appear to have shown an aptitude for doing so.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman Emily Hilliard said the FDA presented Taylor Farms with substantial evidence connecting its products to the outbreak and engaged in extensive discussions with the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
There is no evidence that Barron engaged in criminal wrongdoing or played any role in the government’s decisions involving the Tates.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
His fourth-floor neighbors were kept awake while John engaged in late-night spirit conversation “although he was quite alone.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
His pursuit of the biological basis of schizophrenia—and his quest for a pharmaceutical treatment for the disease—is the subject of Mr. Garson’s engaging scientific biography.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
“It feels like this is the moment when Cracker Barrel should be broadening its base, and engaging in a strategic shift,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Authorities have vowed to crack down on foreigners illegally engaging in commercial activities on the island.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
As engaging a chronicler of his own life as Valdez is, his lessons in how to be seen and heard — and how to stay that way — feel especially timely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
"The letter engaging us? No, sir. I didn't keep it."
From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
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.
