engross
/ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/
"engross" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“engross” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.
Corpus desk
Index EN-engross · engross · English
engross · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | engross |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “engross” in English
Rare enough to double-check
engross is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for engross in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English engrossen, from Anglo-Norman engrosser (“to gather in large quantities, draft something in final form”); partly from the phrase en gros (“in bulk, in quantity, at wholesale”), from en- + gros; and partly from Medieval Latin ingrossō (“th… The correct English form is engross, spelled E-N-G-R-O-S-S.
Definition
- 1To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.
- 2To buy up wholesale, especially to buy the whole supply of (a commodity etc.).
- 3To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.
- 4To completely engage the attention of; to involve.
- 5To thicken; to condense.
- 6To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity.
- 7To amass.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how engross appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present.
laws that may be engrossed upon a finger nail
Etymology
From Middle English engrossen, from Anglo-Norman engrosser (“to gather in large quantities, draft something in final form”); partly from the phrase en gros (“in bulk, in quantity, at wholesale”), from en- + gros; and partly from Medieval Latin ingrossō (“thicken, write something large and in bold lettering”, v.), from in- + grossus (“great, big, thick”), from Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrewə- (“to fell, put down, fall in”). More at in-, gross. By surface analysis, en- + gross.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.