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• 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-geyj] / 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.

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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-zhey] / 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.

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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

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engagé ² British  

/ ɑ̃ɡaʒe /

adjective

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

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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

She comes to the panel’s table highly prepared with data-based talking points, forcing her often intractable co-hosts to engage and listen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

They did not engage with the media, and said little to members of the public whose journeys and weekends they were disrupting.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

If there were any time to turn our noses up in defiance and refuse to engage with anything less than quality, it’s now.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

The adults would engage in animated conversation, usually about current events, while we, the dozen or so kids, kept ourselves busy inventing games.

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026

He felt gears grinding beneath the controls, but nothing would engage.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

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

The book also has a strange, beguiling tone, somewhere between an engagé documentary and an archaeology of taste.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 16, 2019

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

For the moment Emma was unable to accommodate him, as she was engagé with her mother; but as soon as she was free she would consider the matter, and Walter would probably be favored.

From Walter Pieterse A Story of Holland by Multatuli

Bill Clinton secured a lot of Irish-American support when he was running for president, by promising to get engaged in the peace process.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Lee, 69, has been actively engaged in Hong Kong's labour movement since the 1970s, as well as on human rights issues in China.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

The county claims State Farm engaged in illegal and deceptive business practices that kept victims from receiving what they were entitled to under their policies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

“You were even more fortunate if you engaged him in conversation or listened to his analysis, because he never failed to boost your love of the game of hockey.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

Level Threes chased recently hatched milk dragons who escaped from their cream eggs, while Level Fours faced off with shortbread stapier sticks, pretending to be Paragon champions engaged in Marvel Combat.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

"Any person identified as engaging in this behaviour – whether through comments, direct messages or social media – will be permanently banned from all Hyrox events," it said.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Arya said Marvell sees its “XPU attach” business as “much stickier” than its XPU business, meaning customers are returning to and engaging with those offerings more.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Bollinger in 2003, upheld colleges and universities engaging in affirmative action, with Justice O’Connor writing an opinion.

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026

The museum board said Exposition Park would allow the institution to “have the greatest impact on the broader community, fulfilling our goal of inspiring, engaging and educating a broad and diverse visitorship.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

With enemy forces advancing, the Joint Chiefs requested permission to broaden the mission from merely guarding the base to engaging in what was described as “limited offensive operations.”

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

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