Meaning

(transitive, now law) To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive, now law) To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.
2. (transitive, business, obsolete) To buy up wholesale, especially to buy the whole supply of (a commodity etc.).
3. (transitive) To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.
4. (transitive) To completely engage the attention of; to involve.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To thicken; to condense.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity.
7. (obsolete) To amass.

Example Sentences

This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present.

laws that may be engrossed upon a finger nail

Wherefore Mr. Micawber […] set to work at the petition, invented it, engrossed it on an immense sheet of paper, spread it out on a table, and appointed a time for all the club, and all within the walls if they chose, to come up to his room and sign it.

After which time the Popes of Rome, engroſſing what they pleas'd of Politicall rule into their owne hands, extended their dominion over mens eyes, as they had before over their judgements, burning and prohibiting to be read, what they fanſied not; […]

The Coral Islands are principally visited by the pearl-shell fishermen, who arrive in small schooners, carrying not more than five or six men. For a long while the business was engrossed by Merenhout, the French Consul at Tahiti, but a Dutchman by birth, who, in one year, is said to have sent to France fifty thousand dollars' worth of shells.

Octavian then engrosses for himself proconsular powers for ten years in all the provinces where more than one legion was stationed, giving him effective control of the army

She seems to be completely engrossed in that book.

Having made a few vain attempts at engrossing my attention in my book, I was obliged to let myself be carried away by the impetuous torrent of the squire's eloquence.

Word Forms

• engrosses
• engrossing
• engrossed
• ingross

Synonyms for engross

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When Should You Use Engross?

Use engross when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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