Engrossing

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɛnˈɡɹəʊsɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Being capable of capturing someone's complete interest to the extent that they become utterly absorbed and lose awareness of their surroundings
2. Serving to completely captivate an individual's attention, causing them to immerse fully in an experience or narrative without distraction
3. Causing someone to be fully occupied mentally with something, making them forget everything else

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "engrossing" is that its core sense began as a matter of bulk and paperwork. Medieval Latin "ingrossare" meant "to thicken" or "to write in large, bold letters," built on "grossus," meaning "great, big, thick," which passed into Middle English through Anglo-Norman "engrosser," meaning "to gather in large quantities" or "to draft something in final form." Scribes who produced a fair copy of a legal document were said to engross it, and the French phrase "en gros," meaning "in bulk" or "at wholesale," reinforced the commercial sense. From that idea of making something thick and complete came the notion of absorbing a whole mind. To be engrossed was to have one's attention gathered up entirely, so that nothing else could get in. The adjective "engrossing" carries that sense of total absorption, so a gripping book or film is one that fills your attention until the rest of the world drops away.

Synonyms: captivating, absorbing, fascinating

Antonyms: boring, uninteresting