engagedadjective
uk/ɪnˈɡeɪdʒd/us/ɪnˈɡeɪdʒd/engaged adjective (MARRIAGE)
B1 having formally agreed to marry:
Debbie and Christa have just got engaged.
She was engaged to some guy in the army.
formal They're engaged to be married in June.
More examples
- He asked her to sign a prenuptial agreement when they got engaged.
- She told me that she'd been engaged three times, but had never actually married.
- This photo was taken when we were engaged.
- Where this form asks about my marital status, should I write 'engaged' or just 'single'?
- She got engaged to her childhood sweetheart as soon as she left school.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Marriage, cohabitation & other relationships
- adulteress
- affinal
- as husband and wife idiom
- be an item idiom
- be shacked up idiom
- hear wedding bells idiom
- hitched
- honest
- husband
- intermarriage
- marriage counseling
- marriage equality
- marriageable
- marry
- marry in haste, repent at leisure idiom
- shack
- shack up
- something
- together
- wedlock
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engaged adjective (INVOLVED/BUSY)
[ after verb ] involved in something:
They've been engaged in a legal battle with the council for several months.
She's part of a team of scientists who are engaged on/upon cancer research.
[ after verb ] formal busy doing something:
I'd come to the meeting on Tuesday but I'm afraid I'm otherwise engaged (= doing something else).
More examples
- The soldiers were engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
- Rescuers were engaged in a frantic all-night effort to reach the survivors before their supply of air ran out.
- So, what is this big research project you're engaged upon at the moment?
- We wondered whether the mysterious gentleman was engaged upon a secret government mission.
- During the war, she was actively engaged in the resistance.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Busy and active
- a hive of activity/industry idiom
- arena
- be (as) busy as a bee idiom
- be all go idiom
- be at work idiom
- be back in harness idiom
- buzz
- foot
- girlie swot
- hard-working
- harness
- have (got) sth on
- have sth on your plate idiom
- knee-deep
- mad
- spread
- spurt
- stimulating
- tie sb up
- well away idiom
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Unavailable and inaccessible
Machines - Functioning
engaged adjective (IN USE)
B1 If a phone or public toilet is engaged, someone is already using it:
Every time I call her, she/the phone/the number is engaged.
UK I've been trying to call him all evening, but I keep getting the engaged tone.
The sign on the toilet door said "Engaged".
Compare
vacant
More examples
- His phone is engaged - can I put you on hold?
- I've called him several times but his phone is always engaged.
- The doctor's consulting room said "Engaged" on the door, but nobody was in there.
- When the aircraft's toilet is engaged, the "occupied" sign is lit up.
- All of the cubicles in the changing room were engaged, so we had to wait a few minutes.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Unavailable and inaccessible
- busy
- busy signal
- discontinued
- gone
- impenetrable
- inaccessible
- irrecoverable
- lost
- off
- out
- oversubscribed
- reserved
- season
- spoken for
- tie
- tie sb up
- tie sth up
- unavailable