Engage Meaning
/ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo interact socially.
verbTo interact socially., To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
Sentence Examples
I have no time to engage in gossip.
Others engage in volunteer work.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher tries to ____ students with interactive group activities in class.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English engagen, from Old French engagier (“to pledge, engage”), from Frankish *anwadjōn (“to pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *an-, *andi- + Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to pledge, secure”), from Proto-Germanic *wadją (“pledge, guarantee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge; guarantee, bail”), equivalent to en- + gage. Cognate with Old English anwedd (“pledge, security”), Old English weddian (“to engage, covenant, undertake”), German wetten (“to bet, wager”), Icelandic veðja (“to wager”). More at wed.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thus ſhall mankind his guardian care engage, / The promis'd father of the future age."
— 1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, page 40, lines 55–56:
"the difficult task of engaging him in conversation"
— 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Introductory”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
"Shapps refused to engage with the unions and claimed that the industrial disputes were nothing to do with him, despite controlling the purse strings."
— 2022 September 21, Christian Wolmar, “Trevelyan must 'give a damn' and engage with the railway”, in RAIL, number 966, page 45:
"This humanity and good nature engages every body to him, so that when he is pleasant upon any of them all his family are in a good humour, and none so much as the person whom he diverts himself with: […]"
— 1711 July 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, July 2, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 106; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 74:
"Having failed to become the first warship to shoot down another planet, the fleet would then engage the Italian cruiser screen the next afternoon, with Sydney not scoring any hits on its opposite numbers but managing to damage an Italian destroyer."
— 2018 December 12, Drachinifel, 5:45 from the start, in HMAS Sydney - Legendary fights with Angry Australians, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2022:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher tries to ____ students with interactive group activities in class.