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
Paresh Dave, WIRED, 26 Apr. 2024
Many are also software developers, engineers, managers, athletes, data scientists, statisticians, insurance sales agents and inspectors according to Point2.
—Dina Kaur, The Arizona Republic, 25 Apr. 2024
Bob Heil’s career as a groundbreaking sound engineer who brought thunder and rich sonic coloring to tours by rock titans like the Grateful Dead and the Who began behind a pipe organ in a 1920s movie palace.
—Alex Williams, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2024
The current one is a former helicopter flight test engineer.
—Paul Eremenko, Fortune, 22 Apr. 2024
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
arkansasonline.com, 27 Apr. 2024
The puppet master has engineered a reunion of these two men and prodded their competitive spirits once again.
—Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The pig was engineered by Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation.
—Emily Mullin, WIRED, 24 Apr. 2024
McMahon then engineered a deal to merge the company with Endeavor Group’s UFC to form TKO.
—Chloe Melas, NBC News, 17 Apr. 2024
Chinese officials blame weaknesses in the Chinese economy partly on high overseas interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation in the United States.
—Alexandra Stevenson, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2024
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
Noun
In a call with financial analysts on Thursday, Nadella touted that Microsoft now has 1.8 million customers for GitHub Copilot, a generative AI tool that helps engineers write software code.
—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 26 Apr. 2024
Many are also software developers, engineers, managers, athletes, data scientists, statisticians, insurance sales agents and inspectors according to Point2.
—Dina Kaur, The Arizona Republic, 25 Apr. 2024
Bob Heil’s career as a groundbreaking sound engineer who brought thunder and rich sonic coloring to tours by rock titans like the Grateful Dead and the Who began behind a pipe organ in a 1920s movie palace.
—Alex Williams, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2024
The current one is a former helicopter flight test engineer.
—Paul Eremenko, Fortune, 22 Apr. 2024
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
Verb
To derail Crockett's political plans, Jackson and William Carroll, governor of Tennessee, engineered Crockett's defeat in his bid for re-election to the Congress in 1835.
—arkansasonline.com, 27 Apr. 2024
The puppet master has engineered a reunion of these two men and prodded their competitive spirits once again.
—Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The pig was engineered by Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation.
—Emily Mullin, WIRED, 24 Apr. 2024
McMahon then engineered a deal to merge the company with Endeavor Group’s UFC to form TKO.
—Chloe Melas, NBC News, 17 Apr. 2024
Chinese officials blame weaknesses in the Chinese economy partly on high overseas interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation in the United States.
—Alexandra Stevenson, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2024
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
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 30 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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