| English Dictionary |
ENGAGED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does engaged mean?
• ENGAGED (adjective)
The adjective ENGAGED has 7 senses:
1. having ones attention or mind or energy engaged
2. involved in military hostilities
3. reserved in advance
4. (of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; ('engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line)
5. (used of toothed parts or gears) interlocked and interacting
6. having services contracted for
7. built against or attached to a wall
Familiarity information: ENGAGED used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having ones attention or mind or energy engaged
Synonyms:
engaged; occupied
Context example:
deeply engaged in conversation
Similar:
busy (actively or fully engaged or occupied)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Involved in military hostilities
Context example:
the desperately engaged ships continued the fight
Similar:
involved (connected by participation or association or use)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Reserved in advance
Synonyms:
Similar:
reserved (set aside for the use of a particular person or party)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; ('engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line)
Synonyms:
Context example:
kept getting a busy signal
Similar:
occupied (held or filled or in use)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(used of toothed parts or gears) interlocked and interacting
Synonyms:
engaged; intermeshed; meshed
Context example:
intermeshed twin rotors
Similar:
geared (equipped with or connected by gears or having gears engaged)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Having services contracted for
Context example:
the carpenter engaged (or employed) for the job is sick
Similar:
employed (having your services engaged for; or having a job especially one that pays wages or a salary)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Built against or attached to a wall
Context example:
engaged columns
Similar:
connected (joined or linked together)
Domain category:
architecture (the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings)
Context examples
I wrote to Agnes as soon as Dora and I were engaged.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When I told her that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, she asked again: "Do you know what day it is?"
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
‘Lately engaged at Coxon & Woodhouse’s?’
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This was the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when he rose from his chair: MURDER IN WESTMINSTER
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
No one said a word about it, but Sallie offered to dress her hair, and Annie to tie her sash, and Belle, the engaged sister, praised her white arms.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The Tilneys were soon engaged in another on which she had nothing to say.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
He knew not that he had a pre-engaged heart to attack.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
He was more engaged with Louisa than with Henrietta.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Who is lazy today, regrets it later." (Albanian proverb)
"He sold his vinyard and bought a squeezer." (Arabic proverb)
"Theory dominates practice." (Corsican proverb)