engrossed

American

[en-grohst] / ɛnˈgroʊst /

adjective

completely occupied or absorbed, as by something that captures the mind or attention; showing or characterized by such absorption.

A carefully planned light show, combined with a five-minute tapestry of spacey sounds by the quartet, brought the engrossed audience into a meditative state.
written or copied in a clear, attractive, large script or in a formal manner, as a public document or record.

In the year 1776 Hopkinson voted for the Declaration of Independence, and affixed his signature to the engrossed copy of that memorable instrument.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of engross.

Other Word Forms

engrossedly adverb
self-engrossed adjective
unengrossed adjective

Etymology

Origin of engrossed

engross ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"This is all dog content, when will the cat programme be on?" one person engrossed in the service wrote in the chatroom on PetTV's streaming page.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

What engrossed him and his team was the Alto’s graphical display, which was destined to make the text-only displays of contemporary computers obsolete.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

For much of the summer, though, he was engrossed in something else.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025

When Molly read the book, as a 12-year-old, "I'm not sure that I ever looked up from it. I was totally engrossed."

From BBC • Oct. 20, 2025

At the food court, we get slices of gooey cheese pizza and find a table not too far from where Mama’s sitting, engrossed in her folders.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023