Library / English Dictionary

EMBARK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Set out on (an enterprise or subject of study)

Example:

she embarked upon a new career

Synonyms:

embark; enter

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

begin; commence; get; get down; set about; set out; start; start out (take the first step or steps in carrying out an action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "embark"):

take up (pursue or resume)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go on board

Synonyms:

embark; ship

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

board; get on (get on board of (trains, buses, ships, aircraft, etc.))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "embark"):

emplane; enplane (board a plane)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

disembark (go ashore)

Derivation:

embarkment (the act of passengers and crew getting aboard a ship or aircraft)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers

Example:

We ventured into the world of high-tech and bought a supercomputer

Synonyms:

embark; venture

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "embark" is one way to...):

go; move; proceed (follow a procedure or take a course)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

You will observe that this line of boats calls at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming that Browner had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his steamer, the May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he could post his terrible packet.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father’s dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet without embarking on another perilous undertaking.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)