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.

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civil engineer British  

noun

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

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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

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

The son of a doctor of traditional medicine and a homemaker, Balen studied to be a civil engineer, and later helped rebuild homes lost in Nepal’s deadly 2015 earthquake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

A former deputy prime minister and home minister, Lamichhane has formed an alliance with former Kathmandu mayor Balendra "Balen" Shah, 35 -- a rapper and civil engineer with a considerable online following.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

It had probably been designed by a self-taught civil engineer, which may have accounted for the absence of all those expected molecules of water.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith