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engaging - 5 dictionary results

en⋅gag⋅ing

  [en-gey-jing]
Use engaging in a Sentence
–adjective
winning; attractive; pleasing: an engaging smile.
Origin:
1665–75; engage + -ing 2

Related forms:
en⋅gag⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
en⋅gag⋅ing⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
charming, agreeable.

en⋅gage

  [en-geyj] verb, -gaged, -gag⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.
2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker; to engage a room.
3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.
4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.
5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
6. to betroth (usually used in the passive): They were engaged last week.
7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.
8. Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.
9. to attach or secure.
10. Obsolete. to entangle or involve.
–verb (used without object)
11. to occupy oneself; become involved: to engage in business or politics.
12. to take employment: She engaged in her mother's business.
13. to pledge one's word; assume an obligation: I was unwilling to engage on such terms.
14. to cross weapons; enter into conflict: The armies engaged early in the morning.
15. Mechanics. (of gears or the like) to interlock.
Origin:
1515–25; < MF engager, OF engagier. See en- 1 , gage 1

Related forms:
en⋅gag⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. absorb, engross, interest, involve.

Antonyms:
2. discharge. 8. release.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To engaging
en·gage   (ěn-gāj')   
v.   en·gaged, en·gag·ing, en·gag·es

v.   tr.
  1. To obtain or contract for the services of; employ: engage a carpenter.
  2. To arrange for the use of; reserve: engage a room. See Synonyms at book.
  3. To pledge or promise, especially to marry.
  4. To attract and hold the attention of; engross: a hobby that engaged her for hours at a time.
  5. To win over or attract: His smile engages everyone he meets.
  6. To draw into; involve: engage a shy person in conversation.
  7. To require the use of; occupy: Studying engages most of my time.
  8. To enter or bring into conflict with: We have engaged the enemy.
  9. To interlock or cause to interlock; mesh: engage the automobile's clutch.
  10. To give or take as security.
v.   intr.
  1. To involve oneself or become occupied; participate: engage in conversation.
  2. To assume an obligation; agree.
  3. To enter into conflict or battle: The armies engaged at dawn.
  4. To become meshed or interlocked: The gears engaged.

[Middle English engagen, to pledge something as security for repayment of debt, from Old French engagier : en-, in; see en-1 + gage, pledge, of Germanic origin.]
en·gag'er n.
en·gag·ing   (ěn-gā'jĭng)   
adj.  Charming; attractive: an engaging smile.
en·gag'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Engaging

En*ga"ging\, a. Tending to draw the attention or affections; attractive; as, engaging manners or address. -- En*ga"ging*ly, adv. -- En*ga"ging*ness, n.

Engaging and disengaging gear or machinery, that in which, or by means of which, one part is alternately brought into gear or out of gear with another part, as occasion may require.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : engaging
Spanish: atractivo,
German: gewinnend,
Japanese: 魅力的な
More Translations »
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