engage

verb

in-GAYJ/ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/

Formsengages, engaging, engaged

12 meanings of engage

Practice

1
verbtransitive
To hold or occupy someone's attention; to keep someone busy.
The lecturer engaged her audience with vivid examples.
Interactive exhibits engage visitors more effectively than static displays.
Similarcaptivate, absorb, engross, hold, occupy
Oppositebore
2
verbtransitive or intransitive
To draw someone into conversation.
The host engaged each guest in warm conversation.
He knows how to engage strangers without seeming intrusive.
Similarinvolve, draw
Note
Two constructions share this sense. The older is transitive: you engage someone in conversation, as in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), "the difficult task of engaging him in conversation." The newer is intransitive with with. Christian Wolmar wrote in 2022 that a minister "refused to engage with the unions." That second pattern means agreeing to talk at all, and it suits negotiations and disputes.
3
verbtransitive
To arrange to employ a worker or reserve a space for a purpose.
The firm engaged a consultant to review its finances.
Organizers engage a hall months before the conference.
Similarhire, employ, retain, book, reserve
4
verbtransitive
To enter into conflict or combat with an enemy.
The battalion engaged enemy forces at dawn.
Fighter pilots are trained to engage hostile aircraft only when ordered.
Similarattack, fight, battle, confront
Note
Military writing has used this transitive pattern for centuries. Edmund Ludlow's Memoirs (1698–1699) speak of "a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy," and Drachinifel in 2018 has a fleet engage an Italian cruiser screen. The object is always the opponent: troops, ships or aircraft. Without an object the verb becomes the intransitive "go into battle", where the two sides simply engage.
5
verbintransitive
To go into battle and begin combat.
The regiments engaged before reinforcements could arrive.
Cavalry units engage only on open ground.
Similarclash, fight, battle
Oppositedisengage, withdraw, retreat
6
verbintransitive
To mesh or interlock, as the parts of a machine do.
The gears engage smoothly once the clutch is released.
A worn mechanism may fail to engage properly.
Similarmesh, interlock, connect, catch
Oppositedisengage
7
verbintransitive
To bind oneself by a promise or guarantee to do something.
The supplier engaged to deliver the goods by Friday.
They engage to maintain the property at their own expense.
Similarundertake, promise, pledge, agree, guarantee
Note
Here the word stays closest to its root. Old French engagier meant "to pledge," and it goes back through Frankish to a Germanic word for a pledge or guarantee. The verb takes no object and is followed by a to-infinitive: a supplier engages to deliver. It belongs to contracts and formal undertakings. In everyday speech, promise or undertake does the same work.
8
verbtransitive
To bind someone by legal or moral obligation, especially to marry.
The duke engaged his daughter to a neighboring prince.
Tradition once allowed elders to engage young people to chosen partners.
Similarbetroth, promise, pledge
Note
The everyday "engaged to be married" is this sense in the passive, which is where it mostly lives now: "They were engaged last month!" The active pattern, in which a parent engages one person to another, sounds historical. Thomas d'Urfey in 1703 stretches the binding to feelings, saying love should "ingage Patience," that is, bind a person to patience.
9
verbtransitive
To attract or please someone; in archaic use, to fascinate or win someone over.
His easy manner engaged the whole room.
Good design should engage the eye without overwhelming it.
Similarcharm, captivate, attract, please, delight
Oppositerepel
Note
The older, stronger force shows in a construction modern English has dropped: to engage someone to a person, meaning to win their affection. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, writing in 1711, say a man's good nature "engages every body to him." Today the sense is milder, as when a manner engages a room. Keep the "win over" reading for period prose.
10
verbtransitive
To come into gear with another moving part.
The pinion engages the rack to convert rotation into linear motion.
When you release the pedal, the gears engage the driveshaft.
Similarmesh
Oppositedisengage
Note
In engineering prose the subject is the part, not the person: the teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another, and a pinion engages a rack. That sets it apart from the general meshing sense, where a driver can engage the clutch. The verb takes the mating part as a direct object, so "engages with" is unnecessary here.

Less common meanings

11
verbobsoletetransitive
To entangle or ensnare something.
Note
An obsolete physical sense describes catching something fast, as a net or snare does. Because it has fallen out of use, a modern reader who meets engage will think first of mechanical meshing or holding attention. If you mean the physical tangle in new writing, say entangle or ensnare.
12
verbobsoletetransitive
To pledge or pawn one's property; to put something at risk or mortgage land.
The baron engaged his estates to fund the campaign.
Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
Here the pledge behind the promising sense is literal: property handed over as security. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) extends it to staking life itself: "life for gold engage." The sense is obsolete, and a modern reader would hear engage as "occupy" or "hire." In present-day prose, use pledge, pawn or mortgage instead.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of engage apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English engagen, from Old French engagier ("to pledge, engage"), which traces back through Frankish and Proto-Germanic roots meaning "to pledge" or "guarantee." It is equivalent to en- + gage and is cognate with German wetten ("to bet") and related to the English word "wed."