engrave
Americanverb (used with object)
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engraves,
present (3rd person singular)
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engraved,
past participle, past
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engraving
present participle
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to chase (letters, designs, etc.) on a hard surface, as of metal, stone, or the end grain of wood.
She had the jeweler engrave her name on the back of the watch.
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to print from such a surface.
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to mark or ornament with incised letters, designs, etc..
He engraved the ring in a floral pattern.
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to impress deeply; infix.
That image is engraved on my mind.
verb
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to inscribe (a design, writing, etc) onto (a block, plate, or other surface used for printing) by carving, etching with acid, or other process
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to print (designs or characters) from a printing plate so made
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to fix deeply or permanently in the mind
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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engravernoun
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underengravernoun
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reengraveverb (used with object)
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superengraveverb (used with object)
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engravableadjective
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unengravedadjective
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well-engravedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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engravesimple
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engravessimple
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have engravedperfect
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has engravedperfect
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am engravingprogressive
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are engravingprogressive
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is engravingprogressive
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have been engravingperfect progressive
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has been engravingperfect progressive
Past
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engravedsimple
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had engravedperfect
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was engravingprogressive
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were engravingprogressive
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had been engravingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of engrave
Explanation
To engrave is to carve into something, especially stone. Sometimes people have messages engraved inside their wedding rings, their iPods, or any other rock-hard surface that can handle it. Words are engraved on tombstones to honor the people who died. Grave used to mean “to dig or carve” but no one uses it that way anymore because they would say engrave instead. Anytime a hard surface has a message or picture cut into, it was engraved. Sometimes engraving isn’t physical. A super fun birthday when your long lost grandmother rode in on a stallion could be engraved in your mind forever. Both kinds of engraving leave an impression.
Vocabulary lists containing engrave
Frindle
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The Renaissance and Reformation, Lessons 1–2
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The Marvels
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Everyone who the company hires to engrave starts with zero experience, and part of the challenge is the process itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Before, to engrave the circuits on the silicon plates used in electronic devices like mobile phones, it was necessary to use polluting chemical products.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2024
Might as well engrave the nameplate on the NFL offensive rookie of the year award now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
I also love the fact that they could have put it in a font, in something computer-generated, but they chose to engrave it in my handwriting.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 7, 2023
“A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on your floor, whatever.”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Nolan’s “Odyssey” engraves marvelous images onto the ancient oral poem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Employing a nano-imprinting process that engraves the pattern like a stamp, the team achieved the rapid and inexpensive production of metalenses that are 20,000 times larger than conventional ones.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
He said that many local business in the area, including his own, which engraves stone, had offered their time and resources to restore the structure.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
A machine engraves information on an ingot of 99.98 percent pure palladium at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia March 10, 2022.
From Reuters ● May 15, 2022
They say that Brahma, when a man is produced, engraves his doings and sufferings in written characters on his skull, and that his life must take shape in accordance therewith.
From The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; On Human Nature by T. Bailey (Thomas Bailey) Saunders
The package included a one-pound brass ticket engraved with the owner’s name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Snail mail is particularly charming, but absolutely nobody needs to design an engraved invitation to eat chili in somebody’s living room.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026
Once a winner accepts their prize on TV, they are taken across the street to get their awards engraved, take photos and chat with reporters.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The hauntingly lighted displays include the engraved jaw of a sacrifice victim and footprints embedded in stucco, as if the Aztec teens had just run upstairs for a break.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
That Sunday evening, Yoyo was reading some poetry to get herself inspired: Whitman's poems in an old book with an engraved cover her father had picked up in a thrift shop next to his office.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
The writing is piercing and suspenseful, and Ms. Cline deserves praise for engraving a style recognizably her own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
"There is not only a process of repeating signs: there is real visuo-spatial planning, as if the authors already had an overall image of the figure in mind before engraving it."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Twiggs testified that Robinson had asked weeks earlier about using an engraving tool in advance of an upcoming hunting and camping trip with his family.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The Hockey Hall of Fame told the Associated Press it is not directly involved with the engraving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Breathing in that familiar tang of ink and damp paper, she practiced the time-consuming process of copper engraving, which could transform one design into many prints.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
