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

Recent Examples on the Web
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The current $6 million transformation is focused on the pumphouse, where huge steam engines once pushed along the city’s water supply system. Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 8 Feb. 2025 Using a steam engine to turn a large propeller, his invention lifted off from the Paris Hippodrome and flew through the air for roughly 20 miles, per Encyclopedia Britannica. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Jan. 2025 That’s because of a dynamic called the Jevons Paradox, named after English economist William Jevons, who in 1865 noticed that efficiency breakthroughs in steam engine design did not reduce coal consumption at all, but instead caused demand for the fuel to surge. Christopher Helman, Forbes, 8 Feb. 2025 The company also built a well and a water tower alongside the railroad tracks where steam engine locomotives could stop and fill up. John Carlisle, Detroit Free Press, 13 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for steam engine

Word History

First Known Use

1751, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of steam engine was in 1751

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Cite this Entry

“Steam engine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steam%20engine. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

steam engine

noun
: an engine driven by steam

More from Merriam-Webster on steam engine

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