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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-gayj] / 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-zhay] / 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

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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”

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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

"I want to have the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression and the freedom to engage on matters that are not monetary policy matters," she said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

"We can, not only provide you something in the shop, but open up the opportunity for you to engage in lots of other ways," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

Western automakers are contending with intense competition in China, which has seen many manufacturers engage in a prolonged price war to entice customers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

“When we saw that, we saw our customers engage, and then use that as buying opportunities for a lot of these names that they had really done research on.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

"Look yonder, Sancho; there are thirty or more monstrous giants. I shall engage them in fierce combat. And when I win, Sancho, we'll be on our way to riches with the spoils."

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

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

This pronouncement has a nicely engagé ring to it—it’s certainly not detached—but it doesn’t entirely convince.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2016

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

He produced a newly drawn map of the great lake we were to traverse, and the men studied it anxiously 173 while the two priests and the engagé prepared a simple meal.

From Beyond the Frontier A Romance of Early Days in the Middle West by Randall Parrish

“I apologize,”he said, adding he and the reporter smoothed things over and ultimately engaged in a “great” conversation about the series.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Neither the United States nor Iran has engaged in major attacks on land-based targets since early September, settling instead into a pattern of strikes on commercial ships.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

She has since graduated from Westish and is engaged to the college baseball team’s former catcher, now its coach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

The fact that he continues to file what you say are baseless motions in family court, in an apparent attempt to drain your savings and keep you engaged, speaks volumes.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

“There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin’ in the ’ouse at Purfleet.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Viscerally engaging as its combat scenes are, then, “The Mosquito Bowl” seems unable to find something new to say about history’s greatest conflict.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

It is frequently criticised by migrant rights groups who accuse it of engaging in the illegal "pushback" of migrants.

From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026

I’m not sure it’s worth the time out of your life to keep engaging with this man-child.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

She’s engaging in a piece of performance art with two raging megalomaniacs.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

“The women who observed your training earlier today. Grace and Patience Edgar and their mother, Wilhelmina Edgar. They’re newly arrived from the Charleston Compound and were interested in engaging a couple of Attendants.”

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

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