engaged Definition

engage
verb engaged, engaging

1. To take someone on as a worker.

Thesaurus: hire, employ, contract, commission, appoint, enlist, take on, retain; Antonym: dismiss, discharge.
2. To book or reserve (eg a table or room).

Thesaurus: lease, charter, book, reserve, retain.
tr & intr
3. military.
To come or bring something into battle.
Example: engage with the enemy
Thesaurus: attack, fight, assault, strike, combat, assail, fall upon.
tr & intr
4. To cause part of a machine (eg the gears) to fit into and lock with another part.

Etymology: 1500: from French engager, from en gage in pledge.

Phrasal Verb: engage someone in something

To involve or occupy them in it.
Example: She engaged me in small talk

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engaged
adj

1. Bound by a promise to marry them.

Thesaurus: betrothed, pledged, promised, spoken for, unavailable, committed, bound.
Form: engaged to someone (usually)
2. Said of a room or a telephone line, etc: not free or vacant; occupied; in use.
3. Geared together; interlocked.

Idiom: engaged in something

Busy or occupied with it.
Thesaurus: busy with, working with, occupied with, employed with, preoccupied with, tied up with; interested in, engrossed in, involved in, absorbed in, immersed in.