engine

noun

en·gine | \ ˈen-jən

Definition of engine

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 obsolete

a : ingenuity

b : evil contrivance : wile

2a : something used to effect a purpose : agent, instrument mournful and terrible engine of horror and of crime— E. A. Poe

b : something that produces a particular and usually desirable result engines of economic growth

3a : a mechanical tool: such as

(1) : an instrument or machine of war

(2) obsolete : a torture implement

b : machinery

c : any of various mechanical appliances —often used in combination fire engine

4 : a machine for converting any of various forms of energy into mechanical force and motion also : a mechanism or object that serves as an energy source black holes may be the engines for quasars

5 : a railroad locomotive

6 : computer software that performs a fundamental function especially of a larger program

engine

verb

engined; engining

Definition of engine (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to equip with engines

Other Words from engine Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about engine

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Examples of engine in a Sentence

Noun

The car has a four-cylinder engine. tanks, planes, and other engines of war The tax cut could be an engine of economic growth.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

At least one person has died after the engine of a passenger plane exploded in mid-flight in the United States. — Stephen Paulsen, Houston Chronicle, "Passenger dies aboard United flight from Houston to Boston," 27 June 2018 Tuna are aquatic freight trains — hulking engines of muscle engineered for traveling the globe. — Ali Bouzari, SFChronicle.com, "Housemade: The magic of Liholiho Yacht Club," 22 June 2018 Carbon fiber laminated materials helped bring the weight down, but finding a suitable engine was not easy. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "After More Than a Century, the Cyclocopter Is Making a Comeback," 5 Apr. 2019 That requires the engine to cast out scads of rays, so that game’s ray tracing implementation likely won’t work at acceptable performance levels on GTX graphics cards. — Brad Chacos, PCWorld, "RTX on GTX: Nvidia is enabling ray tracing on some GeForce GTX graphics cards," 18 Mar. 2019 Technology and science, the twin engines that propel the skincare industry, are both moving faster than ever. — Evelyn Crowley, Vogue, "The 6 Biggest Skincare Breakthroughs of 2018," 19 Dec. 2018 This one has a slightly smaller engine, standard-size rear wheels, and a different drive system that works more like your car’s cruise control. — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, "The 7 Best Self-Propelled Lawn Mowers," 11 Apr. 2019 Users will also be able to command the phone using Qualcomm’s 4th-generation AI engine, the Hexagon 688. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Qualcomm's Snapdragon 730G processor was built for kick-ass mobile gaming," 9 Apr. 2019 Biden’s rhetoric on this score moves seamlessly between leftists’ love of big universal programs and moderates’ belief in education as the central engine of economic justice, elegantly blending two strands of progressive thought. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "Joe Biden is leading the 2020 polls. Here’s what he thinks about policy.," 18 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Why can't engine manufacturers come up with an engine similar to what is on the more fuel-efficient aircraft — for example, producing a version of the engine that is on a 787 or a 777 — to fit and safely propel the 747? — John Cox, USA TODAY, "Ask the Captain: Can the 747 be saved?," 29 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'engine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.