Sample sentences for ENGAGE - verbalworkout.com

5 meanings

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1 —as in:
engage in conversation

Definition

to interact in various ways — such as to participate, involve, interest, or attract

The exact meaning of this sense of engage depends upon its context. For example:

"They engaged in debate." — participated
"She engaged him in conversation." — involved
"She is an engaging conversationalist." — interesting
"She has an engaging smile." — attractive (attracting interest and interaction)
"The proposal engages the interest of many young voters." — attracts and involves
"She engages with her constituents." — interacts in a meaningful way

She engaged in conduct that is a violation of the honor code.

engaged = was involved

Other Uses (with this meaning)

She enjoys engaging in controversial debates.

engaging = participating

She doesn't engage in class.

engage = get involved in a meaningful way

She is an engaging story-teller.

engaging = interesting

At the time, she was engaged in a research project at Stanford.

engaged = involved

10% reported that they engage in at least one argument during most days.

engage = participate

I admire her civic engagement and service to the community.

engagement = meaningful interaction

She has an engaging writing style and a good turn of phrase.

engaging = interesting

Normally, orbits would be worked out by Vogel, but he was otherwise engaged.
Andy Weir -- The Martian

engaged = busy

Packed tightly together, the soldiers had at first engaged in animated speculation on what might await them.
Mina Baites -- The Silver Music Box

engaged = participated

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

2 —as in:
engage her services

Definition

hire, reserve, book, or occupy

The school district engaged the services of her architectural firm.

engaged = hired

Other Uses (with this meaning)

The play's theatre engagement ends on August 1st.

engagement = booking or reservation

She has a two-week engagement at Carnegie Hall in October.

engagement = booking

The hobby engages much of my spare time.

engages = occupies

I engaged a room.

engaged = reserved

(editor's note: This usage is seldom used today.)

I would like to engage your services.

engage = hire

It was Saturday and she had an important engagement.
Ellen Raskin -- The Westing Game

engagement = activity

Ah, you're cross with me because I've been engaged all week, aren't you?
Kiera Cass -- The Selection

engaged = busy or occupied

And we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza Hotel.
F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby

engaging = occupying

He has an unexpected engagement.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

engagement = activity

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

3 —as in:
engaged and then married

Definition

promised to marry

They were engaged for over a year before they married.

engaged = in a relationship where they promised to marry each other

Other Uses (with this meaning)

She broke off the engagement when she learned he was seeing another woman.

engagement = agreement to marry

Can I see your engagement ring?

engagement = relating to an agreement to marry

They knew each other for three years before they became engaged.

engaged = promised to marry each other

Bep's engaged! ... but Bep doesn't love him, and to me that's enough reason to advise her against marrying him.
Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl

engaged = in an agreement to marry

In critical ways, she was engaged to a stranger.
Laura Hillenbrand -- Unbroken

engaged = in an agreement to marry

Instead I found out about your engagement to somebody else in the newspaper.
Delia Owens -- Where the Crawdads Sing

engagement = agreement to marry

We shall host a party to announce the engagement.
Frank Beddor -- The Looking Glass Wars

engagement = agreement to marry

... the engagement was announced in the newspaper, the wedding gown, the shower ...
Ellen Raskin -- The Westing Game

engagement = agreement to marry

Advantageous as would be the alliance, and long standing and public as was the engagement, her happiness must not be sacrificed to it.
Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park

engagement = promise to marry

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

4 —as in:
engage the enemy

Definition

begin fighting

She engaged the enemy with devastating effect.

engaged = began fighting

Other Uses (with this meaning)

It was the first engagement of the 5th Cavalry.

engagement = battle

We will engage the enemy when they reach the river.

engage = begin fighting

If he crosses paths with Redd, he'll try to engage with her.
Frank Beddor -- The Looking Glass Wars

engage = begin fighting

Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak.
Bram Stoker -- Dracula

engage = begin fighting

He'd seen a distant Zero at Wake, but had never been engaged by one.
Laura Hillenbrand -- Unbroken

engaged = attacked

He decides to walk in the opposite direction from them, reasoning that the Russians are probably heading to engage with the Germans, so getting as far away as possible makes sense.
Heather Morris -- The Tattooist of Auschwitz

engage = begin fighting

It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights.
Chinua Achebe -- Things Fall Apart

engaged = fought

With such means in his power he had a right to be listened to; and though Mrs. Norris could fidget about the room, and disturb everybody in quest of two needlefuls of thread or a second-hand shirt button, in the midst of her nephew's account of a shipwreck or an engagement, everybody else was attentive;
Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park

engagement = battle

Both had recommended reforms to the rules of engagement, particularly concerning the use of deadly force.
Tara Westover -- Educated

engagement = battle

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

5 —as in:
engage the gears

Definition

move into position to work; or start

The gears will not engage.

engage = move into position to work

Other Uses (with this meaning)

This gear should engage with that one.

engage = work (mesh or interlock so one turns the other)

Engage the cloaking device.

engage = start

I pulled the lever to engage the gears.

engage = put to work

She made no response whatever to the clasp of his arm; she did not even try to disengage herself.
George Orwell -- 1984

disengage = separate

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengage means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engage as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me.
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

disengaged = untangled from his previous position

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengaged means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engaged as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

Red in the face, he tried to disengage himself from her embrace.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

disengage = separate

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengage means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engage as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

I'd always associated belief in heaven with, frankly, a kind of intellectual disengagement.
John Green -- The Fault in Our Stars

disengagement = the act of move something out of an interacting position

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengagement means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engagement as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

Horror, horror, horror ... he tried to disengage himself; but Lenina tightened her embrace.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

disengage = separate

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengage means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engage as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

Hastily he looked away, disengaged his imprisoned arm.
Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World

disengaged = untangled

(Editor's note: The prefix "dis-" in disengaged means not or opposite. It reverses the meaning of engaged as seen in words like disagree, disconnect, and disappear.)

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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