steam engine
noun
: an engine driven or worked by steam
specifically
: a reciprocating engine having a piston driven in a closed cylinder by steam
Examples of steam engine in a Sentence
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Over time, rafts gave way to boats that were pulled by ropes, horses and eventually steam engines.
—
John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 21 July 2025
The tower, built by Southern Pacific Railroad around 1892, originally supplied water to steam engines that traveled along the coast.
—Sandra Barrera, Oc Register, 16 July 2025
The British were busy inventing antibiotics, the steam engine, the jet engine, the radio and television, the light bulb, and the internet.
—Tom Shattuck, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 June 2025
This transformation was most dramatic in cotton manufacturing, as exemplified by Murrays’ Mills, in Manchester’s Ancoats neighborhood—a vast operation with eight-story buildings, steam engines, and more than twelve hundred workers.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for steam engine
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John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 21 July 2025
The tower, built by Southern Pacific Railroad around 1892, originally supplied water to steam engines that traveled along the coast.
—Sandra Barrera, Oc Register, 16 July 2025
The British were busy inventing antibiotics, the steam engine, the jet engine, the radio and television, the light bulb, and the internet.
—Tom Shattuck, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 June 2025
This transformation was most dramatic in cotton manufacturing, as exemplified by Murrays’ Mills, in Manchester’s Ancoats neighborhood—a vast operation with eight-story buildings, steam engines, and more than twelve hundred workers.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for steam engine
Cite this Entry
“Steam engine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steam%20engine. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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