What does "embrace" mean?
An act of putting arms around someone and bringing the person close to the chest; a hug.
Embrace
/ɛmˈbɹes/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An act of putting arms around someone and bringing the person close to the chest; a hug.
- Grammar: embrace is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: hug, squeeze, abduct, accept.
- Useful contrasts: ceremonial decline, dreaded, foregone.
- Usage evidence: This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating.
How to use "embrace"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "embrace" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "embrace" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "embrace" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "embrace" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "embrace" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "hug" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "embrace", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An act of putting arms around someone and bringing the person close to the chest; a hug.
"[E]yes, looke your laſt, / Armes take your laſt embrace: and lips, O you / The doores of breath, ſeale with a righteous kiſſe / A dateleſſe bargain to ingroſſing death: […]"
- 2 a close affectionate and protective acceptance wordnet
- 3 An enclosure partially or fully surrounding someone or something. figuratively
"When he reached the ridge the outlying fog crept across the summit, caught him in its embrace, and wrapped him from her gaze."
- 4 the act of clasping another person in the arms (as in greeting or affection) wordnet
- 5 Full acceptance (of something). figuratively
"And it was the white blood which sent him to the minister, which rising in him for the last and final time, sent him against all reason and all reality, into the embrace of a chimera, a blind faith in something read in a printed Book."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 the state of taking in or encircling wordnet
- 7 An act of enfolding or including. figuratively
"In India men are enjoined to be fully awake to the fact that they are in the closest relation to things around them, body and soul, and that they are to hail the morning sun, the flowing water, the fruitful earth, as the manifestation of the same living truth which holds them in its embrace."
Verb
- 1 To clasp (someone or each other) in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug. transitive
"There was no faynting faith in that Dogge, which when his Master by a mischaunce in hunting stumbled and fell toppling downe a deepe dytche beyng vnable to recouer of himselfe, the Dogge signifying his masters mishappe, reskue came, and he was hayled up by a rope, whom the Dogge seeying almost drawne up to the edge of the dytche, cheerefully saluted, leaping and skipping vpon his master as though he would haue imbraced hym, beying glad of his presence, whose longer absence he was lothe to lacke."
- 2 take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own wordnet
- 3 To seize (something) eagerly or with alacrity; to accept or take up with cordiality; to welcome. figuratively, transitive
"I wholeheartedly embrace the new legislation."
- 4 hold (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness wordnet
- 5 To submit to; to undergo. figuratively, transitive
"What I haue done my ſafety vrg'd me to: / And I embrace this fortune patiently, / Since not to be auoided it fals on me."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory wordnet
- 7 To encircle; to enclose, to encompass. also, figuratively, transitive
"Low at his foot a ſpacious Plain is plac't, / Between the Mountain and the Stream embrac't: / Which ſhade and ſhelter from the Hill derives, / While the kind River Wealth and Beauty gives; […]"
- 8 To enfold, to include (ideas, principles, etc.); to encompass. figuratively, transitive
"Natural philosophy embraces many sciences."
- 9 To fasten on, as armour. obsolete, rare, transitive
"VVho ſeeing him from far ſo fierce to pricke, / His warlike armes about him gan embrace, / And in the reſt his ready ſpeare did ſticke; […]"
- 10 To accept (someone) as a friend; to accept (someone's) help gladly. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"He bears himſelfe more proudlier, / Euen to my perſon, then I thought he would / When firſt I did embrace him."
- 11 To attempt to influence (a court, jury, etc.) corruptly; to practise embracery. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"The puniſhment for the perſon embracing is by fine and impriſonment; and, for the juror ſo embraced, if it be by taking money, the puniſhment is (by divers ſtatutes of the reign of Edward III) perpetual infamy, impriſonment for a year, and forfeiture of the tenfold value."
Antonyms
Example
"This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "embrace"?
Common synonyms include: hug, squeeze, abduct, accept, accept, acceptance.
How do you use "embrace" in a sentence?
This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating.
How do you pronounce "embrace"?
Pronounced /ɛmˈbɹes/.
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English embracen (“to clasp in one's arms, embrace; to reach out eagerly for, welcome; to enfold, entwine; to ensnare, entangle; to twist, wrap around; to gird, put on; to lace; to be in or put into bonds; to put a shield on the arm; to grasp (a shield or spear); to acquire, take hold of; to receive; to undertake; to affect, influence; to incite; to unlawfully influence a jury; to surround; to conceal, cover; to shelter; to protect; to comfort; to comprehend, understand”) [and other forms], from Old French embracer, embracier (“to kiss”) (modern French embrasser (“to kiss; (dated) to embrace, hug”)), from Late Latin *imbracchiāre, from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’)) + bracchium (“arm”). The English word is analysable as em- + brace. The noun is derived from the verb.