Engrave

//ɪnˈɡɹeɪv// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To carve text or symbols into (something), usually for the purposes of identification or art. transitive

    "He engraved the plaque with his name."

  2. 2
    To put in a grave, to bury. obsolete

    "So both agree their bodies to engraue; / The great earthes wombe they open to the sky [...]."

  3. 3
    carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface wordnet
  4. 4
    To carve (something) into a material. transitive

    "He engraved his name."

  5. 5
    carve or cut a design or letters into wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block wordnet
  2. 7
    impress or affect deeply wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
carveetchinscribeassembleautolithographbe a printmaker

Example

More examples

"Pisoni says since they don't know who wins, they have to engrave a bronze plate with all the nominees' names."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From earlier ingrave, equivalent to en- + grave (“to carve, engrave”). More at grave.

Etymology 2

From en- + grave.

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