Jump To:

• engage
  engage

  verb (used with object)

  to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons).
• engagé
  engagé

  adjective

  choosing to involve oneself in or commit oneself to something.

engage

¹ American  

[en-gayj] / ɛnˈgeɪdʒ /

verb (used with object)

engaged, engaging

1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons).

   He engaged her in conversation.

   Synonyms:

   involve, interest, engross, absorb

2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire.

   to engage a worker;

   to engage a room.

   Antonyms:

   discharge

3. to attract and hold fast.

   The novel engaged her attention and interest.

4. to attract or please.

   His good nature engages everyone.

5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable.

   He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.

6. to betroth (usually used in the passive).

   They were engaged last week.

7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with.

   Our army engaged the enemy.

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

   Antonyms:

   release

9. to attach or secure.

10. Obsolete. to entangle or involve.

---

verb (used without object)

engaged, engaging

1. to occupy oneself; become involved.

   to engage in business or politics.

2. to take employment.

   She engaged in her mother's business.

3. to pledge one's word; assume an obligation.

   I was unwilling to engage on such terms.

4. to cross weapons; enter into conflict.

   The armies engaged early in the morning.

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

engagé ² American  

[ahn-ga-zhay] / ɑ̃ gaˈʒeɪ /

adjective

1. choosing to involve oneself in or commit oneself to something.

   Some of the political activists grew less engagé as the years passed.

---

engage ¹ British  

/ ɪnˈɡeɪdʒ /

verb

1. to secure the services of; employ

2. to secure for use; reserve

   engage a room

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

4. to attract (the affection) of (a person)

   her innocence engaged him

5. to draw (somebody) into conversation

6. (intr) to take part; participate

   he engages in many sports

7. to promise (to do something)

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

9. to bring (a mechanism) into operation

   he engaged the clutch

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

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

---

engagé ² British  

/ ɑ̃ɡaʒe /

adjective

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

---

Other Word Forms

• engager
  noun

Etymology

Origin of engage¹

First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French engager, Old French engagier; see en- ¹ ( def. ), gage ¹ ( def. )

Origin of engagé²

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

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

engage engagé engaged engaging

"It gives lions the opportunity to engage in behaviors such as tearing, pulling and manipulating food over extended periods, which are important components of their natural feeding ecology."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

In a world where a song can set chart records in part because no one minds when it pops up on streaming, it’s fun to engage with music that needs time to sink in.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

After 2021, the bloc presented a united front, demanding Myanmar engage with it's five-point plan to bring peace through dialogue between all sides.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

The president assured them that the government would spare no effort to obtain a general pardon for him, instructing diplomatic channels to engage Saudi authorities.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

As time went by, my mother started nudging me to go outside and engage with kids in the neighborhood.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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

The environment of the hunters made them rough and cruel, and for many an engagé his three years of servitude must have been a veritable purgatory.

From The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century by Clarence Henry Haring

This allowed them to determine which fishmeal plants were connected to ships engaged in illegal or unsustainable fishing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Rhoad's mother, Page, and Natalie Weirtz, who he was engaged to, also participated in the hearing in a video call from the United States.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was one of the first politicians on the left who seriously engaged with the network’s audience.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

"The defendants were engaged in what is very obviously a form of spying," he added.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Bobby rode a horse named Chub, played with a black-and-white calf, engaged in an occasional softball game, and made a boat in the arts-and-crafts class—but he still couldn’t relate to the other children.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

"Cumulatively not engaging in health-promotion behaviors in the postpartum period has reverberating implications for the family unit, too," Yee said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

He reckons a higher cash component, higher-quality scrip, or a more compelling premium could increase the likelihood of Northern Star formally engaging with a potential suitor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

"It makes practising feel much more engaging and like the real thing, compared to practising at home on your own, which feels a bit awkward and boring."

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Crucially, he said, the tort suit wouldn’t prohibit the companies from engaging in any conduct; it only requires the companies to pay for some of the damage that conduct causes.

From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026

There was, too, a curiously deliberate edge to the way he went on to inquire again: 'So you found them an engaging bunch, eh?' indeed, Doctor.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• arrest
• catch
• employ
• fascinate
• immerse
• interest
• involve
• join
• participate
• preoccupy
• undertake