civil engineer

American  

noun

civil engineers plural

1. a person who designs public works, as roads, bridges, canals, dams, and harbors, or supervises their construction or maintenance.

---

civil engineer British  

noun

1. a person qualified to design, construct, and maintain public works, such as roads, bridges, harbours, etc

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• civil engineering
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• civil engineers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of civil engineer

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

civil engineer

"I woke up this morning and I didn't have to carry my ID anymore," Maria Jesus Walda, a 34-year-old civil engineer, told AFP as she headed into Gibraltar.

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

The civil engineer and content creator said rather than buying something that would bring the temperature of his room down quickly, he found he had instead bought some "cheap components" made using "flawed science".

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

An immigrant from Colombia, he works as a civil engineer specializing in bridge construction, and was deemed to “perform services of exceptional merit and ability” by the federal government.

From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026

A civil engineer, he approaches life with an analytical eye and rarely gets worked up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2025

So I told her about William Mulholland, who was a self-taught civil engineer.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith