Embark

//ɪmˈbɑːk// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To go aboard a craft or vessel for transportation.

    "All passengers please embark now."

  2. 2
    To cover or enclose with bark. transitive
  3. 3
    set out on (an enterprise or subject of study) wordnet
  4. 4
    To start, begin.

    "Phil embarked on his journey yesterday."

  5. 5
    go on board wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To cause to go on board a vessel or boat; to put on shipboard. transitive
  2. 7
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers wordnet
  3. 8
    To engage, enlist, or invest (as persons, money, etc.) in any affair. transitive

    "He embarked his fortune in trade."

Synonyms

All synonyms
get onair-expressairfreightairmailassumebegin

Example

More examples

"My uncle says he's about to embark on a new business venture."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French embarquer, from em- + barque (“small ship”). Compare with Portuguese embarcar, Spanish abarcar.

Etymology 2

From em- + bark.

Related phrases

re-embark

More for "embark"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.