Word.ws English Dictionary

embraced

/ɪmˈbɹeɪst/

embraced is the simple past and past participle of embrace.

Meaning of embrace

Verb

embrace (third-person singular simple present embraces, present participle embracing, simple past and past participle embraced)

  1. (transitive) To clasp (someone or each other) in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug.
    • 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...1576, Iohannes Caius [i.e., John Caius], “Dogges of a Course Kind Seruing for Many Necessary Uses, Called in Latine Canes Rustici, and First of the Shepherds Dogge, Called in Latine Canis...
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To seize (something) eagerly or with alacrity; to accept or take up with cordiality; to welcome.
    • I wholeheartedly embrace the new legislation.
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To submit to; to undergo.
    • 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.c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]
    Synonyms:
    accept
  4. (also, figuratively, transitive) To encircle; to enclose, to encompass.
    • 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; […]1642, John Denham, “Coopers Hill”, in Poems and Translations, with the Sophy. […], 4th edition, Printed by T. W. for H[enry] Herringman and sold by Jacob Tonson […], and Thomas Bennet […], published...
    Synonyms:
    entwine, surround
  5. (figuratively, transitive) To enfold, to include (ideas, principles, etc.); to encompass.
    • Natural philosophy embraces many sciences.
  6. (obsolete, rare, transitive) To fasten on, as armour.
    • 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; […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26, page 194

See all 12 meanings of embrace

Words formed from embraced

Phrases with embraced

Words that rhyme with embraced

23 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about embraced

What is embraced the simple past and past participle of?
Embraced is the simple past and past participle of embrace.
How do you pronounce embraced?
Embraced is pronounced /ɪmˈbɹeɪst/.

Words near embraced in the dictionary

  1. embrace the suck
  2. embrace, extend and extinguish
  3. embraceability
  4. embraceable
  5. embraceably
  6. embraced
  7. embraced the penguin
  8. embraced the suck
  9. embracement
  10. embracements
  11. embraceor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: embraced (page history and authors); embrace (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-embraced.ogg.

Cite this entry: “embraced.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/embraced. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.