engineer

[en-juh-neer]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engineer ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

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

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

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

Digital Technology. a person skilled in the design and programming of computer systems: a software engineer; a web engineer.

a skillful manager: a political engineer.

verb (used with object)

to plan, construct, or manage as an engineer: He's engineered several big industrial projects.

to design or create using the techniques or methods of engineering: The motor has been engineered to run noiselessly.

to arrange, manage, or carry through by skillful or artful contrivance: He certainly engineered the election campaign beautifully.

Origin of engineer

1350–1400; engine + -eer; replacing Middle English engin(e)our < Anglo-French engineor Old French engigneor < Medieval Latin ingeniātor, equivalent to ingeniā(re) to design, devise (verbal derivative of ingenium; see engine) + Latin -tor -tor

Related formssub·en·gi·neer, nounun·en·gi·neered, adjectivewell-en·gi·neered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for engineer

designer, builder, director, surveyor, manager, planner, architect, inventor, organize, concoct, create, manage, negotiate, direct, supervise, conceive, manipulate, arrange, originator, schemer

Examples from the Web for engineer

Contemporary Examples of engineer

When engineer Williams first heard the song, it reminded him of hit songs by Johnny “Guitar” Watson.
‘The Prince of Chocolate City’: When Gil Scott-Heron Became A Music Icon
Marcus Baram
November 15, 2014
To take an “Asian” job like engineer, scientist, programmer.
Men Without a Country: Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, My Father and Me
Arthur Chu
August 12, 2014
They had a very South American mentality where you had to have a very dependable job—a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer.
Feeding Diddy’s Art Addiction: How Maria Brito Buys Art for Celebrites
Justin Jones
July 14, 2014
Maria “Macarena” Paz, a Caracas engineer, is underwhelmed by this explanation.
Who Will Maduro Blame for Venezuela’s Blackout This Time?
Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez
June 28, 2014
A third engineer I talked to called the alloys “unobtainium.”
Why Does the USA Depend on Russian Rockets to Get Us Into Space?
P. J. O’Rourke
June 22, 2014

Historical Examples of engineer

"It was providential, your seeing the rock," he said to the engineer.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
So Bill Nevins, my engineer, who was workin' the h'ister, and I went up.
The Underdog
F. Hopkinson Smith
In his work as engineer he had had occasion to study up Morse in heliographing.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
The room was not at all what one might expect of an engineer's study.
Alexander's Bridge and The Barrel Organ
Willa Cather and Alfred Noyes
The engineer knows best what tools to use in strengthening his own machine.
The Stark Munro Letters
J. Stark Munro

British Dictionary definitions for engineer

engineer

noun

a person trained in any branch of the profession of engineering

the originator or manager of a situation, system, etc

a mechanic; person who repairs or services machines

US and Canadian the driver of a railway locomotive

an officer responsible for a ship's engines

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

verb (tr)

to originate, cause, or plan in a clever or devious mannerhe engineered the minister's downfall

to design, plan, or construct as a professional engineer

Word Origin for engineer

C14: enginer, from Old French engigneor, from engignier to contrive, ultimately from Latin ingenium skill, talent; see engine

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for engineer

early 14c., "constructor of military engines," from Old French engigneor, from Late Latin ingeniare (see engine); general sense of "inventor, designer" is recorded from early 15c.; civil sense, in reference to public works, is recorded from c.1600. Meaning "locomotive driver" is first attested 1832, American English. A "maker of engines" in ancient Greece was a mekhanopoios.

1843 (but cf. engineering), from engineer (n.). Figurative sense of "arrange, contrive" is attested from 1864, originally in a political context. Related: Engineered.