EMBARK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does embark mean? 

• EMBARK (verb)
  The verb EMBARK has 3 senses:

1. go on board

2. set out on (an enterprise or subject of study)

3. proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers

  Familiarity information: EMBARK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EMBARK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they embark    ... he / she / it embarks   
Past simple: embarked   
Past participle: embarked   
-ing form: embarking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Go on board

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

embark; ship

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

board; get on (get on board of (trains, buses, ships, aircraft, etc.))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "embark"):

emplane; enplane (board a plane)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

disembark (go ashore)

Derivation:

embarkment (the act of passengers and crew getting aboard a ship or aircraft)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Set out on (an enterprise or subject of study)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

embark; enter

Context example:

she embarked upon a new career

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

begin; commence; get; get down; set about; set out; start; start out (take the first step or steps in carrying out an action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "embark"):

take up (pursue or resume)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

embark; venture

Context example:

We ventured into the world of high-tech and bought a supercomputer

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

go; move; proceed (follow a procedure or take a course)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

I found that the wind was northeast and must have driven me far from the coast from which I had embarked.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Researchers working with astronauts on the International Space Station are embarking on a mission to discover the origin of Alzheimer’s.

(Subtracting Gravity from Alzheimer's, NASA)

Six fellows were to stay on board, and the remaining thirteen, including Silver, began to embark.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Tents, lunch, and croquet utensils having been sent on beforehand, the party was soon embarked, and the two boats pushed off together, leaving Mr. Laurence waving his hat on the shore.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Englishmen in those days were skilled and prompt in such matters, for it was so not long before that Edward had embarked as many as fifty thousand men in the port of Orwell, with their horses and their baggage, all in the space of four-and-twenty hours.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had two richly laden ships then making a voyage upon the seas, in which he had embarked all his wealth, in the hope of making great gains, when the news came that both were lost.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

From the beginning he has never concealed his belief that Professor Challenger is an absolute fraud, that we are all embarked upon an absurd wild-goose chase and that we are likely to reap nothing but disappointment and danger in South America, and corresponding ridicule in England.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“A candid observer would certainly declare that we were so already before we embarked upon so wild an experiment. I confess that I never imagined that the effect could be so sudden and so severe.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)