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Wed vs Engage - What's the difference?

wed | engage |

In transitive terms the difference between wed and engage

is that wed is to take as one's spouse while engage is to bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) usually in passive.

In intransitive terms the difference between wed and engage

is that wed is to take a spouse while engage is to enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with {{term|in|lang=en}}).

As a noun Wed

is an alternative spelling of Wed.|lang=en.

wed

English

Verb

  • To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.
  • The priest wed the couple.
  • * Milton
  • And Adam, wedded to another Eve, / Shall live with her.
  • To take as one's spouse.
  • She wed her first love.
  • To take a spouse.
  • (figuratively) To join (more or less permanently)
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou art wedded to calamity.
  • * Tillotson
  • Men are wedded to their lusts.
  • * 2008 , Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns , page 72:
  • (figurative) To take to oneself and support; to espouse.
  • * Clarendon
  • They positively and concernedly wedded his cause.

    Synonyms

    * marry

    engage

    English

    (wikipedia engage)

    Alternative forms

    * ingage (obsolete)

    Verb

    (engag)
  • To interact socially.
  • #To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
  • #*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • #*:Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage .
  • #To draw into conversation.
  • #*(Nathaniel Hawthorne) (1804-1864)
  • #*:the difficult task of engaging him in conversation
  • #To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).
  • #*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • #*:Good nature engages everybody to him.
  • (lb) To interact antagonistically.
  • #(lb) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
  • #*(Fitz Hugh Ludlow) (1836-1870)
  • #*:a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy
  • #(lb) To enter into battle.
  • (lb) To interact contractually.
  • #(lb) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged , and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.}}
  • #(lb) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
  • #(lb) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive).
  • #:
  • # To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
  • #* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
  • Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage .
  • (lb) To interact mechanically.
  • #To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
  • #:
  • # To come into gear with.
  • The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.
  • (label) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).
  • *
  • *:“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
  • Antonyms

    * (to cause to mesh or interlock) disengage

    Derived terms

    * engagement * disengage * disengagement ----