| / English Dictionary |
ENGAGEMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Employment for performers or performing groups that lasts for a limited period of time
Example:
the play had bookings throughout the summer
Synonyms:
booking; engagement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
employment; work (the occupation for which you are paid)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
gig (a booking for musicians)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war
Example:
he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement
Synonyms:
battle; conflict; engagement; fight
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
action; military action (a military engagement)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
Armageddon (any catastrophically destructive battle)
pitched battle (a fierce battle fought in close combat between troops in predetermined positions at a chosen time and place)
naval battle (a pitched battle between naval fleets)
armed combat; combat (an engagement fought between two military forces)
dogfight (an aerial engagement between fighter planes)
assault (close fighting during the culmination of a military attack)
Instance hyponyms:
Battle of Britain (the prolonged bombardment of British cities by the German Luftwaffe during World War II and the aerial combat that accompanied it)
Drogheda (in 1649 the place was captured by Oliver Cromwell, who massacred the Catholic inhabitants)
Holonyms ("engagement" is a part of...):
war; warfare (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy)
Derivation:
engage (carry on (wars, battles, or campaigns))
Sense 3
Meaning:
The act of giving someone a job
Synonyms:
employment; engagement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
booking; reservation (the act of reserving (a place or passage) or engaging the services of (a person or group))
call-back (the recall of an employee after a layoff)
shape-up (a way of hiring longshoremen by the day; applicants gather around a union boss who selects those to be hired)
Derivation:
engage (engage or hire for work)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The act of sharing in the activities of a group
Example:
the teacher tried to increase his students' engagement in class activities
Synonyms:
engagement; involution; involvement; participation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
group action (action taken by a group of people)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
commitment (an engagement by contract involving financial obligation)
intercession; intervention (the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.))
group participation (participation by all members of a group)
Antonym:
non-engagement (withdrawing from the activities of a group)
Derivation:
engage (carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A mutual promise to marry
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
promise (a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
ringing (the giving of a ring as a token of engagement)
Derivation:
engage (give to in marriage)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Contact by fitting together
Example:
the meshing of gears
Synonyms:
engagement; interlocking; mesh; meshing
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
contact; impinging; striking (the physical coming together of two or more things)
Derivation:
engage (get caught)
engage (keep engaged)
Sense 7
Meaning:
A meeting arranged in advance
Example:
she asked how to avoid kissing at the end of a date
Synonyms:
appointment; date; engagement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("engagement" is a kind of...):
get together; meeting (a small informal social gathering)
Meronyms (members of "engagement"):
date; escort (a participant in a date)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "engagement"):
blind date (a date with a stranger)
double date (a date in which two couples participate)
rendezvous; tryst (a date; usually with a member of the opposite sex)
Context examples:
I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from which I expected peace.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Neurotrophins exert their functions through engagement of Trk tyrosine kinase receptors or p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR).
(Neurotrophin Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)
FAK is found in intracellular signaling focal adhesion complexes following engagement of the extracellular matrix by integrins.
(FAK Family Tyrosine Kinase, NCI Thesaurus)
At any rate, invited to dinner he was by Mr. Morse—Ruth's father, who had forbidden him the house and broken off the engagement.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
So the fortnight slipped away, varied by nothing but the variation of the tide, which altered Mr. Peggotty's times of going out and coming in, and altered Ham's engagements also.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
"Unfortunately I have an engagement. Au revoir, madamoiselle," and Laurie bent as if to kiss her hand, in the foreign fashion, which became him better than many men.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Of course he must confirm your engagement, but between ourselves it will be all right.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the girl’s affections from turning towards anyone else.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
That it is unfortunate, especially if you have any engagements falling due in the course of the next several months.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He tried to smile as he replied, "your sister's engagement to Mr. Willoughby is very generally known."
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
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