Library / English Dictionary

ENGROSS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Consume all of one's attention or time

Example:

Her interest in butterflies absorbs her completely

Synonyms:

absorb; engage; engross; occupy

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "engross" is one way to...):

interest (excite the curiosity of; engage the interest of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "engross"):

involve (occupy or engage the interest of)

consume (engage fully)

rivet (hold (someone's attention))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to engross Sue

Derivation:

engrossment (the quality of being intent and concentrated)

engrossment (the mental state of being preoccupied by something)

engrossment (complete attention; intense mental effort)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Devote (oneself) fully to

Example:

He immersed himself into his studies

Synonyms:

absorb; engross; engulf; immerse; plunge; soak up; steep

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "engross" is one way to...):

center; centre; concentrate; focus; pore; rivet (direct one's attention on something)

Verb group:

immerse; plunge (cause to be immersed)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "engross"):

drink; drink in (be fascinated or spell-bound by; pay close attention to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

engrossment (the quality of being intent and concentrated)

engrossment (the mental state of being preoccupied by something)

engrossment (complete attention; intense mental effort)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was surprised to find corruption grown so high and so quick in that empire, by the force of luxury so lately introduced; which made me less wonder at many parallel cases in other countries, where vices of all kinds have reigned so much longer, and where the whole praise, as well as pillage, has been engrossed by the chief commander, who perhaps had the least title to either.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He had received a consignment of books upon philology and was settling down to develop this thesis when suddenly, to my sorrow and to his unfeigned delight, we found ourselves, even in that land of dreams, plunged into a problem at our very doors which was more intense, more engrossing, and infinitely more mysterious than any of those which had driven us from London.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fanny's thoughts were now all engrossed by the two who had left her so long ago, and getting quite impatient, she resolved to go in search of them.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Materials were at hand, on a separate table; he went to it, and nearly turning his back to them all, was engrossed by writing.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

How much his business engrosses him already is very plain from the circumstance of his forgetting to inquire for the book you recommended.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It was engrossed by the extraordinary silence of her sister and Willoughby on the subject, which they must know to be peculiarly interesting to them all.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

My apprehensions of being disparaged to the object of my engrossing affection were revived when we went into the drawing-room, by the grim and distant aspect of Miss Murdstone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Catherine, by whom this meeting was wholly unexpected, received her brother with the liveliest pleasure; and he, being of a very amiable disposition, and sincerely attached to her, gave every proof on his side of equal satisfaction, which he could have leisure to do, while the bright eyes of Miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice; and to her his devoirs were speedily paid, with a mixture of joy and embarrassment which might have informed Catherine, had she been more expert in the development of other people's feelings, and less simply engrossed by her own, that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she could do herself.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Otherwise, as avarice is the necessary consequence of old age, those immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)