Meaning & use
engrossing
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableapproving
Holding your whole attention so strongly that you forget everything else.
Grammar: Describes the thing that absorbs you: an engrossing novel, not an engrossing reader.
Patterns
- an engrossing story
- find something engrossing
I found the documentary so engrossing that I forgot dinner.
The engrossing mystery kept her reading until three in the morning.
His new game is more engrossing than anything I have played this year.
verbtransitive
Present participle of engross: taking up all of someone's attention or time.
Grammar: Often passive as engrossed in: she was engrossed in her book.
Patterns
- engross someone in something
The puzzle was engrossing the children for hours.
Engrossing herself in work helped her through the difficult year.
Word forms
| comparative | more engrossing |
|---|---|
| superlative | most engrossing |
Common combinations
- an engrossing story
- It is an engrossing story with a surprising ending.
- utterly engrossing
- The lecture was utterly engrossing.
- find it engrossing
- Many people find chess engrossing.
- an engrossing read
- The biography is an engrossing read.
- deeply engrossing
- The exhibition proved deeply engrossing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- absorbing
- Absorbing is close in meaning but a little calmer, suggesting steady attention rather than being gripped.
- gripping
- Gripping stresses suspense and tension, so it suits thrillers more than engrossing does.
- fascinating
- Fascinating means very interesting, but it does not require you to lose track of everything else.
- riveting
- Riveting is stronger and more dramatic, suggesting attention is held fixed.
Opposites
Word family
- engross verb
- to take up all of someone's attention
- engrossed adjective
- completely absorbed in something
- engrossingly adverb
- in an absorbing way
- engrossment noun
- the state of being fully absorbed
Commonly confused: engrossing or engrossed? engrossing or gross?
engrossing vs engrossed
Engrossed describes the person who is absorbed, whereas engrossing describes the thing that absorbs them.
engrossing vs gross
Gross means disgusting or total, and has nothing to do with attention.
Practice
I was so ___ in the novel that I missed my stop.
Choose one answer.
Engrossed describes the person absorbed, and it takes the preposition in. Engrossing describes the book itself, so it would not fit after was so ___ in.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “engrossing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.