social engineering

noun

1

: management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society : applied social science

2

: social methods (such as phishing) that are used to obtain personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly

The previously noted trend of switching from social engineering to hacking methods in attacks on organizations strengthened …

—San Fernando Valley (California) Business Journal

social engineer noun

plural social engineers

Examples of social engineering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But in recent years, the Kremlin has pursued extensive social engineering to embed distrust of the West in the Russian psyche. —Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 17 Apr. 2025

For example, as The Hacker News reports, social engineering attacks have become more advanced, growing to include video deepfakes, voice cloning or scaling realistic conversations through the use of large language models (LLMs). —David Henkin, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Educate and train employees on cybersecurity awareness: Many ransomware attacks start with phishing emails or social engineering tactics. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, FOXNews.com, 2 Apr. 2025

Medusa, which is known to have impacted at least 300 critical infrastructure targets, uses social engineering and unpatched software vulnerabilities as part of the exploit campaign. —Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1899, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for social engineering

• bioengineering
• adhering
• appearing
• careering
• cohering
• endearing
• inhering
• prehearing
• rehearing
• veneering
• cheering
• clearing

Kids Definition

social engineering

noun

1

: management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society : applied social science

2

: social methods (such as phishing) that are used to obtain personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly