engineer

American  

[en-juh-neer] / ˌɛn dʒəˈnɪər /

noun

• engineers
  plural

1. a person trained and skilled in the design, construction, and use of engines or machines, or in any of various branches of engineering.

   a mechanical engineer; a civil engineer.

2. a person who operates or is in charge of an engine.

3. Also called locomotive engineer.  Railroads. a person who operates or is in charge of a locomotive.

4. a member of an army, navy, or air force specially trained in engineering work.

5. Digital Technology. a person skilled in the design and programming of computer systems.

   a software engineer;

   a web engineer.

6. a skillful manager.

   a political engineer.

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verb (used with object)

• engineers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• engineered,
  past participle,  past
• engineering
  present participle

1. to plan, construct, or manage as an engineer.

   He's engineered several big industrial projects.

2. to design or create using the techniques or methods of engineering.

   The motor has been engineered to run noiselessly.

3. to arrange, manage, or carry through by skillful or artful contrivance.

   He certainly engineered the election campaign beautifully.

engineer British  

/ ˌɛndʒɪˈnɪə /

noun

1. a person trained in any branch of the profession of engineering

2. the originator or manager of a situation, system, etc

3. a mechanic; person who repairs or services machines

4. the driver of a railway locomotive

5. an officer responsible for a ship's engines

6. Informal name: sapper.  a member of the armed forces, esp the army, trained in engineering and construction work

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verb

1. to originate, cause, or plan in a clever or devious manner

   he engineered the minister's downfall

2. to design, plan, or construct as a professional engineer

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subengineer
  noun
• unengineered
  adjective
• well-engineered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• engineers
  plural

Participles

• engineering
  present
• engineered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• engineer
  simple
• engineers
  simple
• have engineered
  perfect
• has engineered
  perfect
• am engineering
  progressive
• are engineering
  progressive
• is engineering
  progressive
• have been engineering
  perfect progressive
• has been engineering
  perfect progressive

Past

• engineered
  simple
• had engineered
  perfect
• was engineering
  progressive
• were engineering
  progressive
• had been engineering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will engineer
  simple
• will have engineered
  perfect
• will be engineering
  progressive
• will have been engineering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of engineer

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; engine + -eer; replacing Middle English engin(e)our, from Anglo-French engineor, Old French engigneor, from Medieval Latin ingeniātor, from ingeniā(re) “to design, devise” (derivative of ingenium “nature, innate quality, mental power, clever invention”; engine ) + Latin -tor -tor

Explanation

An engineer is someone who possesses the knowledge or expertise to create and implement plans or build machines. Even if you're not an engineer, when you engineer you make plans and solve problems. An interesting part of the word engineer is the suffix -eer, which turns a word into one that means someone who does something indicated by the base it is affixed to — a mountaineer climbs mountains, an auctioneer presides at auctions, an engineer designs, coming from the Old French engin, which means "skill or cleverness." If you want to become an engineer, you'll have to study all kinds of mechanical systems, not just engines.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

engineer engineers engineered engineering

Trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara says Honda "observed a step forward in terms of performance from our metrics".

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

In 2022, she left her six-figure job as a software engineer due to stress and took a pay cut at a new job.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The senior coroner Caroline Saunders said the former design engineer "sustained a fall at the pub", adding that it happened "following an allegation that he was pushed".

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

"We don't have any news from the airline. We don't know if we stay another day in Jakarta or find another flight," the 32-year-old software engineer told AFP.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Klavdiya Ilushina, the chief engineer for the 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, was at first annoyed at the working-class rough edges of the mechanics, who’d mostly had no higher education.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

The limit is the same for all employees at the company, she said, although engineers are typically the only ones who come close to hitting it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

As the Senegalese engineers assemble their satellite -- wearing hairnets and white gloves as they probe a miniature black box, small enough to be held with one hand -- two destinations have become a priority.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

Nats said on Tuesday afternoon that engineers were on site, and it was "working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible".

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Google Cloud and Accenture are teaming up on the latest bet that forward-deployed engineers are key to unlocking business value from generative AI, the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Isabelle Bousquette reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

A chorus of engineers chanted that the thing could not be built, at least not with any margin of safety.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

This tangent of a tangent was patently engineered to provide a Harry Potter-style faceoff of sorcery skills, but for all its supposed drama it comes off as pretty silly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Cloverleaf Bio, a New Haven, Conn.-headquartered startup developing engineered tRNA-based therapeutics for cancer, was seeded with a $33 million investment led by 4BIO Capital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

“The main living spaces revolve around a dramatic fireplace and connect fluidly to a generous dining area with a sleek wet bar—every detail engineered for both aesthetic impact and effortless use,” the description continued.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

MLB engineered the sale of the Dodgers after previous owner Frank McCourt filed for bankruptcy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

Genetically engineered bees were developed in 2092, but could only provide sixty-three percent of natural function.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Instead of token limits, Carvana shares what it calls “expectations” concerning each employee’s monthly AI usage level, says Alex Devkar, the used-car retailer’s senior vice president of engineering and product analytics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The engineering firm that worked on the 28,000-square-foot Signorello Estate facility said on its website that it cost $20 million to build.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

He had been thinking of going abroad to study mechanical engineering, in Italy or Denmark, but then the protests began, and he decided to stay for the time being and do his part.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

"Because water is generally much cheaper than electricity," companies have less incentive to cut water use on cost grounds alone, said Shaolei Ren, an engineering professor at the University of California, Riverside.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

PIH brought in engineering teams to stabilize the capital’s badly damaged general hospital, restoring its water and electricity; when medical supplies were trucked in, twelve operating rooms were quickly up and running.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Related Words

• arrange
• come up with
• conceive
• concoct
• create
• direct
• manage
• manipulate
• negotiate
• organize
• set up
• supervise