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In my native language, Portuguese, being an "engaged person" ("pessoa engajada") implicitly means being a "politically engaged person" (that is, a person who is engaged with pressing political issues).

In English, if you're "engaged" it can mean that you're going to marry someone. If I say "you're a very engaged person", can it mean elliptically that you are politically engaged? Or is it entirely dependent on context, so that it can only mean that you are very engaged with the theme being discussed (e.g., if I tell a workmate in the workplace that she's a "very engaged person", it might mean engaged with our work, if that's what we were discussing)?

Somewhat related questions:

"engaged" mean in this context

What is the difference between "had engaged", "had been engaged", and "were engaged" in this context?

what does engaged mean?

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    Without further context, to say that someone is engaged would be taken to mean engaged to be married. Beyond that, it's entirely dependent on context, generally with the meaning of being active in, busy with, involved in, immersed in and so on. However, very engaged is unlikely. Totally engaged (in a project/work) is more probable. But you have pretty much answered the question yourself.
    – Ronald Sole
    Feb 12, 2021 at 23:56
  • Thanks @RonaldSole! Would you say that if some people were discussing how much someone is contributing to a political cause, and one of them mentioned "yes, so-and-so is an engaged person", would this make sense and be grammatical? I guess my doubt now is: is it ever grammatical and idiomatic to use this expression "so-and-so is an engaged person"?
    – flen
    Feb 13, 2021 at 2:05
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    I have never heard the expression an engaged person. I suspect that it would puzzle native English speakers.
    – Ronald Sole
    Feb 13, 2021 at 13:27

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It all depends on context. Engaged can either mean engaged to be married or to be immersed in, like you and @Ronald Sole said. Saying "yes, so-and-so is an engaged person" without any context is a weird thing to say without any context. To answer your second question you left in your comment, not everyone would understand what you meant if you said "yes, so-and-so is an engaged person" even with the context of talking about politics. Saying "yes, so-and-so is very engaged in politics" makes what you are trying to say clear, even without context, so I would say its the best phrase to use in the situation where you are trying to say somebody is interested in politics.

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