# engaged

Pronunciation: say "in-GAYJD" /ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒd/

## Adjective

1. Having agreed to marry a particular person, or, of a couple, to marry each other.
   - Simple: Having promised to marry someone, often with a ring and wedding plans.
   - _After dating for five years, the couple announced they were engaged._
   - _He stayed engaged to her through two years of overseas deployment._
2. Busy or occupied with some activity or employment.
   - Simple: Busy doing something, so not free to do anything else.
   - _She's currently engaged in a major research project and can't take new clients._
   - _He sent his regrets, explaining that he was otherwise engaged that evening._
3. Greatly interested; giving one's full attention and involvement to something.
   - Simple: Very interested in something and giving it your full attention.
   - _An engaged audience asked questions long after the lecture ended._
   - _Voters who feel engaged with local issues turn out at higher rates._
4. In contact and in operation, as of gears, a clutch, or other parts that interlock to work together.
   - Simple: Connected and working together, as when one machine part locks into another.
   - _With the clutch engaged, power flows from the engine to the wheels._
   - _The autopilot stayed engaged through most of the flight._
5. Of a telephone or line: already in use for a call when a third party tries to get through. *(British)*
   - Simple: Describes a phone line already in use, so other callers cannot get through.
   - _Every time he dialled the box office, the line was engaged._
   - _Her phone had been engaged for an hour, so I popped round instead._
7. Involved in combat; attacking an enemy force or under attack by one.
   - Simple: Fighting an enemy, or being attacked by one.
   - _Two patrols became engaged in a brief firefight at the border._
   - _The carrier group remained engaged with hostile aircraft for several hours._
8. Passionately committed to a political, social, or artistic cause.
   - Simple: Caring deeply about a cause and working hard to support it.
   - _He remained a deeply engaged writer, devoting his novels to questions of justice._
   - _Her photography is engaged rather than detached, taking sides on every issue it documents._
9. Of a column or similar element: attached to a wall or partly sunk into it, rather than freestanding.
   - Simple: Attached to a wall, or partly sunk into it.
   - _Engaged columns articulate the facade without actually supporting it._
   - _The nave walls feature engaged shafts that rise to meet the vault ribs._
10. Of a fetus, having its widest presenting part, usually the head, descended into the pelvic brim or inlet.
   - Simple: Describes an unborn baby that has moved down into the mother's pelvis, ready for birth.
   - _By the thirty-eighth week, the fetus was fully engaged and labor seemed imminent._
   - _First babies often become engaged several weeks before delivery, while later babies may not drop until labor begins._

## Verb

6. Simple past tense and past participle of engage. — simple past and past participle of engage
   - Simple: Simple past tense and past participle of engage. Use this form to talk about something that already happened or has been done.
   - _The company engaged a consultant to review its finances._
   - _The destroyer had engaged enemy aircraft twice before noon._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/engaged (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).