engagé

noun

Someone serving under a contract of engagement.

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Meanings

nounengagé (plural engagés)

plural engagés

  1. historicalSomeone serving under a contract of engagement.

    A moment later he seemed to form a resolution, and turned to his engagé, who was standing a few paces from him.

    2013, Gustave Aimard, The Buccaneer Chief: A Romance of the Spanish Main, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    In 1705, "un nommé Laurain" having been up the Missouri River, there met native groups who had knowledge of the Spaniards, and in 1706 two Canadiens had spent two years status, like François-Marie Perrot, who began as a lowly engagé for the Jesuits and over the years became an influential explorer deeply involved in government plans.

    1974, Preston Holder, The Hoe and the Horse on the Plains: A Study of Cultural Development, →ISBN

    For the seasonal engagé – the “porkeater” going to Grand Portage – the engagement provided an extra source of income to supplement a primary occupation elsewhere.

    2004, Heather Devine, The People who Own Themselves, →ISBN
adjectiveengagé (comparative more engagé, superlative most engagé)

comparative more engagé · superlative most engagé

  1. Passionately committed to a cause.

    Fortunately, most scholars, engagé or not, are willing to deal with differing ponts of view.

    1983, Latin American Research Review - Volume 18, page 90
    2 more examples

    Moreover, when Ulibarrí's subsequent works are published by Chicano presses (Justa, The Bilingual Press, Arte Público), he joins the brother-and sisterhood of Chicano literati—the engagé as well as those who would write to delect and entertain rather than to inspire revolutions.

    1993, Sabine R. Ulibarrí, Tierra Amarilla: Stories of New Mexico, →ISBN

    Rejecting both the high art-as-tradition creed of the self-styled Humanists led by T.S. Eliot and the Soviet example of literary realism advocated by New Masses editor and author Michael Gold, Farrell called for an art both engagé and free.

    2003, James T. Farrell, Young Lonigan, →ISBN

    Synonyms: engaged

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivePassionately committed to a cause.

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Also see

Origin

  1. Frenchengagé
  2. Englishengagé

From French engagé. Doublet of engagee.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish engagé
  • engagéTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

engagé. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/engag%C3%A9

MLA

“engagé.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/engag%C3%A9. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “engagé,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/engag%C3%A9.

Source: engagé on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.