# engagement

Pronunciation: say "in-GAYJ-muhnt" /ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ.mənt/

## Noun

1. The period during which two people have promised to marry, before the wedding takes place.
   - Simple: The time when two people have promised to marry and are getting ready for the wedding.
   - _A long engagement gave them time to save for a house._
   - _Friends celebrated the couple's engagement with a small party._
2. A scheduled appointment, especially one to speak or perform in public.
   - Simple: A planned event where someone agrees to speak, perform, or show up at a set time.
   - _The author's evening engagement at the bookstore drew a large crowd._
   - _The orchestra accepted a series of engagements across Europe._
3. A sense of being absorbed in and connected to what is going on, and eager to see what will happen next.
   - Simple: A feeling of being pulled in and interested, wanting to know what happens next.
   - _The teacher measured student engagement by how many questions they asked._
   - _Audience engagement deepened as the plot twisted toward its climax._
4. An actual instance of active fighting between opposing forces in a conflict.
   - Simple: A fight or battle between enemies during a war or conflict.
   - _The naval engagement lasted only twenty minutes but cost both fleets dearly._
   - _Commanders avoided a direct engagement until reinforcements arrived._
5. A state of connection or attachment between things or people.
   - Simple: A close connection or link between things or people.
   - _The treaty created a lasting engagement between the two nations._
   - _Mechanical engagement of the gears transfers power to the wheels._
6. The quantitative response that a piece of content attracts, taken as a measure of audience attention.
   - Simple: How much people react to a post or video, like liking and sharing it.
   - _The marketing team tracked engagement across every social platform._
   - _Low engagement on the campaign forced a change in strategy._
7. A countable instance in which a user interacts with a piece of content after seeing it.
   - Simple: A single action where someone interacts with content after seeing it.
   - _Every engagement was logged with a timestamp and user ID._
   - _The dashboard counted engagements separately from impressions._
8. In fencing, the point at which opponents are close enough to join blades or make an effective attack.
   - Simple: The moment in fencing when two fighters are close enough to cross blades or strike.
   - _The fencer pressed for an engagement to control her opponent's blade._
   - _A quick disengage broke the engagement before the attack landed._

## Origin

Borrowed from French engagement, equivalent to engage plus the suffix -ment.

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