engaged

[en-geyjd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engaged ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

busy or occupied; involved: deeply engaged in conversation.

pledged to be married; betrothed: an engaged couple.

under engagement; pledged: an engaged contractor.

entered into conflict with: desperately engaged armies.

Mechanics.

interlocked.
(of wheels) in gear with each other.

Architecture. (of a distinct member) built so as to be truly or seemingly attached in part to the structure before which it stands: an engaged column.

Origin of engaged

First recorded in 1605–15; engage + -ed²

Related formsen·gag·ed·ly

[en-gey-jid-lee, -geyjd-] /ɛnˈgeɪ dʒɪd li, -ˈgeɪdʒd-/, adverben·gag·ed·ness, nounun·en·gaged, adjective

engage

[en-geyj]

verb (used with object), en·gaged, en·gag·ing.

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.

verb (used without object), en·gaged, en·gag·ing.

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.

Origin of engage

1515–25; < Middle French engager, Old French engagier. See en-¹, gage¹

Related formsen·gag·er, noun

Synonyms for engage

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engage ON THESAURUS.COM

1. absorb, engross, interest, involve.

Antonyms for engage

2. discharge. 8. release.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for engaged

hooked, committed, preoccupied, working, involved, engrossed, interested, absorbed, employed, occupied, affianced, intended, betrothed, steady, bound, plighted, contracted, pinned, ringed, doing

Examples from the Web for engaged

Contemporary Examples of engaged

Jennie met Randolph Churchill in 1873 at a ball; three days later they were engaged.
The Real-Life ‘Downton’ Millionairesses Who Changed Britain
Tim Teeman
December 31, 2014
“After we got engaged, she only made things harder,” explains Sabrine.
A Sunni-Shia Love Story Imperiled by al Qaeda
Ruth Michaelson
December 26, 2014
She was engaged a year later to a man 11 years her senior, chosen by her father.
Drawing on the Memories of Syrian Women
Masha Hamilton
November 26, 2014
The brash, engaged, occasionally self-centered ex-lawmaker seemed to retreat inward and practically disappear.
Hagel Takes a Bullet for Obama: Inside the Defense Secretary’s Sudden Firing
Shane Harris, Tim Mak
November 24, 2014
And what do I call him now that we are living together, but are not engaged or married?
What Should I Call the Man I Love?
Dushka Zapata
November 18, 2014

Historical Examples of engaged

Plainly, too, he was a man of action and a man who engaged all her instinctive liking.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Then after she was engaged to Shepler they talked him out of it.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
My granddaughter, you may have heard, is engaged to an Englishman.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
While engaged with her father, she would cut wood, haul logs, etc.
Harriet, The Moses of Her People
Sarah H. Bradford
On the 23rd we were engaged making preparations for a start for Eucla.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest

British Dictionary definitions for engaged

engaged

adjective

pledged to be married; betrothed

employed, occupied, or busy

architect built against or attached to a wall or similar structurean engaged column

(of a telephone line) already in use

Derived Formsengagedly (ɪnˈɡeɪdʒɪdlɪ), adverb

engage

verb (mainly tr)

to secure the services of; employ

to secure for use; reserveengage 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; participatehe engages in many sports

to promise (to do something)

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

to bring (a mechanism) into operationhe 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

Derived Formsengager, noun

Word Origin for engage

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

engagé

adjective

(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

Word Origin and History for engaged

engage

early 15c., "to pledge," from Middle French engagier, from Old French en gage "under pledge," from en "make" + gage "pledge," through Frankish from Proto-Germanic *wadiare "pledge" (see wed).

It shows the common evolution of Germanic -w- to French -g-; cf. Guillaume from Wilhelm). Meaning "attract the attention of" is from 1640s; that of "employ" is from 1640s, from notion of "binding as by a pledge." Specific sense of "promise to marry" is 1610s (implied in engaged).