engineer
Americannoun
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engineers
plural
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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.
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a person who operates or is in charge of an engine.
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Also called locomotive engineer. Railroads. a person who operates or is in charge of a locomotive.
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a member of an army, navy, or air force specially trained in engineering work.
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Digital Technology. a person skilled in the design and programming of computer systems.
a software engineer;
a web engineer.
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a skillful manager.
a political engineer.
verb (used with object)
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engineers,
present (3rd person singular)
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engineered,
past participle, past
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engineering
present participle
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to plan, construct, or manage as an engineer.
He's engineered several big industrial projects.
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to design or create using the techniques or methods of engineering.
The motor has been engineered to run noiselessly.
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to arrange, manage, or carry through by skillful or artful contrivance.
He certainly engineered the election campaign beautifully.
noun
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a person trained in any branch of the profession of engineering
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the originator or manager of a situation, system, etc
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a mechanic; person who repairs or services machines
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the driver of a railway locomotive
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an officer responsible for a ship's engines
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Informal name: sapper. a member of the armed forces, esp the army, trained in engineering and construction work
verb
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to originate, cause, or plan in a clever or devious manner
he engineered the minister's downfall
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to design, plan, or construct as a professional engineer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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engineersimple
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engineerssimple
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have engineeredperfect
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has engineeredperfect
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am engineeringprogressive
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are engineeringprogressive
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is engineeringprogressive
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have been engineeringperfect progressive
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has been engineeringperfect progressive
Past
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engineeredsimple
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had engineeredperfect
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was engineeringprogressive
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were engineeringprogressive
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had been engineeringperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing engineer
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I personally dislike this style,” said Nathan Luckock, a 20-year-old engineer at an AI startup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Sonam Jorphail, a senior engineer and head of outreach at the IAO, says tourism is creating jobs and driving development in Hanle, but growth must be managed to protect its dark skies.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Another protester, 33-year-old engineer Irene Lopez, told AFP the situation had become "unsustainable".
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
One engineer, who traveled with Kao to D.C. to explain the technical side of a project, recalled being sent out of the room once the subject of money came up.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
He was a man of many parts: a scholar, an artist, an engineer, an architect, a man of peace, and a man of war.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Like a tennis player practicing serves, it’s by writing lines of code over and over that young engineers discover how to spot bugs—and learn from their mistakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Instead, their experience will remain available to astronauts, engineers, flight controllers, and others working on the next stages of NASA's human spaceflight program.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Kao was an unusual figure among the company’s low-key naval engineers and boat aficionados.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Network designers, field support engineers, installers, all need to learn new skills around installation and servicing.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
When the city was built, the brilliant early engineers had adapted these to a system of natural plumbing.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Plus, it’s inherently funny when a body engineered to function with extreme precision behaves ineptly.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was engineered to hook young users "just like a sophisticated gambling machine."
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Schmidt said the first major clue appeared in 2014, when a colony of genetically engineered mice survived under conditions that, according to scientific understanding at the time, should have been fatal.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
AI is a human artifact, engineered for profit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
A precisely engineered drainage system added to the similarity by channeling water from a cistern-like well at the summit down and along the sides, a stylized version of rainwater plashing down the Andes.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The surviving effective altruists were to build a lab for engineering the next generation of humans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Getting people to accept them is a much greater hurdle, one that requires a different kind of engineering.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
Karl van Bibber, a Berkeley professor of nuclear engineering, served as Seiler's informal adviser on subjects ranging from X-ray imaging to scientific publishing.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Some of the most AI-exposed majors included computer science, computer engineering and language majors, researchers said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
After I completed my engineering drawing of the nozzle, there was nothing to do but to go up to the mine.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
