engaging

[en-gey-jing]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engaging ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

winning; attractive; pleasing: an engaging smile.

Origin of engaging

First recorded in 1665–75; engage + -ing²

Related formsen·gag·ing·ly, adverben·gag·ing·ness, nounqua·si-en·gag·ing, adjectivequa·si-en·gag·ing·ly, adverbun·en·gag·ing, adjective

Synonyms for engaging

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engaging ON THESAURUS.COM

charming, agreeable.

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 engaging

alluring, lovable, intriguing, likable, fascinating, interesting, inviting, pleasant, appealing, attractive, sweet, pleasing, captivating, enticing, prepossessing, fetching, bewitching, winning, entrancing, enchanting

Examples from the Web for engaging

Contemporary Examples of engaging

Yet despite his engaging irascibility, Mamoon never quite emerges as a character in his own right.
A Novel About a Novelist ‘Like’ Naipaul
Edward Platt
November 6, 2014
What should the protocol be for engaging people on the street who offer unsolicited “compliments?”
Street Harassment Shouldn’t Be a Crime
Lizzie Crocker
October 29, 2014
Chatty, engaging and knowledgeable, cabbies in Hong Kong are also avid listeners of discussion programs on local radio.
Hong Kong Between Calm and Chaos
Ben Leung
October 3, 2014
I like a good story, and so I want to make sure that this character is engaging.
Into the Grindr of the Gay Dating Game: Sex, Death, and Aging in ‘Stealing Sam’
Tim Teeman
September 18, 2014
She was, unusually for a comedian, as funny and engaging off stage as on.
Joan Rivers: Our Last Interview
Tim Teeman
September 4, 2014

Historical Examples of engaging

"If I walk with you, they'll know I'm not engaged to Joe," she said, with engaging directness.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
In spite of its pretty entourage, too, the town is not engaging.
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
The engaging little town is indeed one of nature's sanatoriums.
In the Heart of Vosges
Matilda Betham-Edwards
The bosom received this tribute in its most engaging manner.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
He has been in Parliament some time, you know,' returned the engaging young Barnacle.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for engaging

engaging

adjective

pleasing, charming, or winning

Derived Formsengagingly, adverbengagingness, noun

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 engaging

adj.

"interesting," 1650s (implied in engagingly), present participle adjective from engage.

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).