en·gi·neer
ˌen-jə-ˈnir 
1
: a member of a military group devoted to engineering work
2
obsolete
: a crafty schemer : plotter
3
a
: a designer or builder of engines
b
: a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering
c
: a person who carries through an enterprise by skillful or artful contrivance
4
: a person who runs or supervises an engine or an apparatus
engineered; engineering; engineers
1
: to lay out, construct, or manage as an engineer
engineer a bridge
2
a
: to contrive or plan out usually with more or less subtle skill and craft
engineer a business deal
b
: to guide the course of
engineer a rally
3
: to modify or produce by genetic engineering
corn engineered to resist crop pests
Synonyms
Examples of engineer in a Sentence
Noun
Design engineers are working on ways to make the cars run more efficiently.
The engineer stopped the train.
Army engineers were called in to construct the canal.
Verb
The rebels engineered a successful attack.
the mayor engineered an agreement to have a major league team play in our city
Recent Examples on the Web
Jamie Nimmo, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
Culture clashes in the commercial world By the end of the shuttle program, a contingent of engineers within NASAalready had ideas for the path ahead.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 13 Apr. 2024
Some engineers and top auto executives are beginning to question the superiority of electric sports cars, which have become a contentious topic among enthusiasts.
—Morgan Korn, ABC News, 13 Apr. 2024
How Veba got to ‘Shark Tank’ Brewster, who studies how humans interact with computers at FIU, partnered with a mechanical engineer and worked for two years to bring her idea to life.
—Jimena Tavel, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024
Longtime Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour went public this week with alarming claims about two of the company's jets, including the 787 Dreamliner.
—Joel Rose, NPR, 12 Apr. 2024
Krissy cheered for the Chiefs from 2006 to 2011 and 2013 to 2016 before working as a yoga instructor and software engineer, per her obituary.
—Esme Mazzeo, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024
Our engineers are Jake Lummus, Nick Pitman, and James Yost.
—Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Apr. 2024
The engineer on watch forgot to throw a switch that would prevent the generators from overheating, leading to the outage.
—USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
Justine Calma, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2024
The adjacent 281-acre North Ravine Cell, which is in use now, was engineered in 2005.
—Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 8 Apr. 2024
Trump is facing charges in three other criminal cases, including felony charges for trying to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia, engineering a violent effort to overturn the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, and refusing to return classified documents after leaving office.
—Brian Bennett, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Adding Zinc to the Mix Researchers are also developing stretchable batteries engineered for safety, which can even be used in applications where the wire battery comes in contact with, for example, the wet skin of a perspiring user.
—IEEE Spectrum, 5 Apr. 2024
The duo engineered an amazing comeback to survive the second leg in Colombia and fourth overall in season 36.
—Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 3 Apr. 2024
With the win, Minnesota State engineered a clean sweep of basketball titles as its women’s team won on Friday.
—Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 30 Mar. 2024
Rose was hopeless, totally convinced of his invincibility, sitting on an infinite capacity to engineer a bigger and bigger bankroll.
—Corbin Smith, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2024
The all electric sports car, engineered with paddle shifters, rev matching and sport driving responsiveness overcame skepticism in test drives.
—Scotty Reiss, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
Many of the cars being disassembled or crushed in the UK are fixable, according to Lee Houston, EV technical liaison engineer at the AA.
—Jamie Nimmo, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
Culture clashes in the commercial world By the end of the shuttle program, a contingent of engineers within NASAalready had ideas for the path ahead.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 13 Apr. 2024
Some engineers and top auto executives are beginning to question the superiority of electric sports cars, which have become a contentious topic among enthusiasts.
—Morgan Korn, ABC News, 13 Apr. 2024
How Veba got to ‘Shark Tank’ Brewster, who studies how humans interact with computers at FIU, partnered with a mechanical engineer and worked for two years to bring her idea to life.
—Jimena Tavel, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2024
Longtime Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour went public this week with alarming claims about two of the company's jets, including the 787 Dreamliner.
—Joel Rose, NPR, 12 Apr. 2024
Krissy cheered for the Chiefs from 2006 to 2011 and 2013 to 2016 before working as a yoga instructor and software engineer, per her obituary.
—Esme Mazzeo, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024
Our engineers are Jake Lummus, Nick Pitman, and James Yost.
—Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Apr. 2024
The engineer on watch forgot to throw a switch that would prevent the generators from overheating, leading to the outage.
—USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
Verb
The report points to three different tactics for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere: natural methods that rely on plants, soil, and the ocean to absorb CO2; building machines that capture carbon dioxide; and hybrid technologies that employ both natural and engineered processes.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2024
The adjacent 281-acre North Ravine Cell, which is in use now, was engineered in 2005.
—Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 8 Apr. 2024
Trump is facing charges in three other criminal cases, including felony charges for trying to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia, engineering a violent effort to overturn the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, and refusing to return classified documents after leaving office.
—Brian Bennett, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Adding Zinc to the Mix Researchers are also developing stretchable batteries engineered for safety, which can even be used in applications where the wire battery comes in contact with, for example, the wet skin of a perspiring user.
—IEEE Spectrum, 5 Apr. 2024
The duo engineered an amazing comeback to survive the second leg in Colombia and fourth overall in season 36.
—Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 3 Apr. 2024
With the win, Minnesota State engineered a clean sweep of basketball titles as its women’s team won on Friday.
—Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 30 Mar. 2024
Rose was hopeless, totally convinced of his invincibility, sitting on an infinite capacity to engineer a bigger and bigger bankroll.
—Corbin Smith, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2024
The all electric sports car, engineered with paddle shifters, rev matching and sport driving responsiveness overcame skepticism in test drives.
—Scotty Reiss, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'engineer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near engineer
Cite this Entry
“Engineer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engineer. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
engineer
1 of 2 noun
en·gi·neer
ˌen-jə-ˈni(ə)r
1
: a member of a military group devoted to engineering work
2
a
: a designer or builder of engines
b
: a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering
3
: a person who runs or supervises an engine or technical machinery
engineer
2 of 2 verb1
: to plan, build, or manage as an engineer
2
: to guide the course of
engineer a rally
Medical Definition
engineer
transitive verb
en·gi·neer
ˌen-jə-ˈni(ə)r
: to modify or produce by genetic engineering
insulin made by genetically engineered bacteria—Technical Survey
Technical SurveyLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
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