reverse engineer

verb

reverse engineered; reverse engineering; reverse engineers

transitive verb

: to disassemble and examine or analyze in detail (a product or device) to discover the concepts involved in manufacture usually in order to produce something similar

reverse engineering noun

Examples of reverse engineer in a Sentence

They reverse engineered the software.

Recent Examples on the Web

The case was cracked using investigative genetic genealogy, a combination of DNA analysis and paper trail research that has been used over the past decade to reverse engineer a person’s identity. — Chris Boyette, CNN Money, 25 July 2026

The way out of macro paralysis is to define your own endgame and reverse engineer back to today. — Jason Sisneros, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026

One good way to reverse engineer a culture of alcohol education could be for accrediting groups to add questions about alcohol screening and treatment to board exams. — Isabella Cueto, STAT, 14 July 2026

But that other supplier would have to try to reverse engineer that particular dye—formulas for dyes and colorants were, in spite of being in service to the war effort, still proprietary—and backward engineering color from a finished product is a crapshoot. — Literary Hub, 2 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for reverse engineer

• adhere
• ameer
• amir
• appear
• arrear
• astir
• austere
• career
• cashier
• cohere
• compere
• emir