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:
It took three years of training before he was allowed to engrave small pieces for customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
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
A love lock is a padlock couples can engrave with their names before adding to a bridge, fence or installation at a special destination.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
Still weak from her tropical illness and pressed for time, she was forced to hire others to etch and engrave most of the copper plates based on her paintings.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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
And it is the distance between this country and the ideals it engraves upon marble edifices.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2021
And which is the Mulciber, the Vulcan, the artist-engraver that engraves the covering of the egg so prettily?
From The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
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
The cynic in me knows that, as surely as no Gutenberg protégé engraved this stationery, the happy accident of the extras befalls every customer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The words are literally institutionalized, engraved on a bell at the UC Santa Barbara campus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 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
And there are countless other headstones engraved with names he does not recognize, and more that have been so worn by time and wind that they are illegible, their owners long forgotten.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Each ring will include a mini World Cup trophy in its design and an engraving in the band.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 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
When I think of people piling into funds with hot recent returns, I can’t help seeing this early engraving in my mind’s eye.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
More than 40,000 years ago, early humans were already engraving symbols onto tools, figurines, and other objects.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
Not only did the slaves need to This 1875 engraving of a sugar harvest in Louisiana shows the factory near the fields.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
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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.
