- engage
- [[t]ɪnge͟ɪʤ[/t]]
♦♦♦1) VERB If you engage in an activity, you do it or are actively involved with it. [FORMAL]
[V in n] I have never engaged in the drug trade...
[V in n] You can engage in croquet on the south lawn.
2) VERB If something engages you or your attention or interest, it keeps you interested in it and thinking about it.[V n] They never learned skills to engage the attention of the others.
3) VERB If you engage someone in conversation, you have a conversation with them.[V n in n] They tried to engage him in conversation...
[V n in n] We want to engage recognized leaders in discussion.
4) VERB If you engage with something or with a group of people, you get involved with that thing or group and feel that you are connected with it or have real contact with it.[V with n] She found it hard to engage with office life...
[V with n] She had vowed to go out of her way to engage with the Irish people at local community level.
Derived words:engagement N-UNCOUNT usu N with nAnd she, too, suffers from a lack of critical engagement with the literary texts.
5) VERB If you engage someone to do a particular job, you appoint them to do it. [FORMAL][V n] We engaged the services of a recognised engineer...
[V n] He had been able to engage some staff.
6) V-ERG When a part of a machine or other mechanism engages or when you engage it, it moves into a position where it fits into something else.Press the lever until you hear the catch engage.
[V n] ...a lesson in how to engage the four-wheel drive.
7) VERB When a military force engages the enemy, it attacks them and starts a battle.[V n] It could engage the enemy beyond the range of hostile torpedoes.
8) → See also , engaging
English dictionary. 2008.