engineer
Plural: engineers
Noun
- a person who uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems
- the operator of a railway locomotive
- A soldier engaged in designing or constructing military works for attack or defence, or other engineering works.
- A soldier in charge of operating a weapon; an artilleryman, a gunner.
- A person professionally engaged in the technical design and construction of large-scale private and public works such as bridges, buildings, harbours, railways, roads, etc.; a civil engineer.
- Originally, a person engaged in designing, constructing, or maintaining engines or machinery; now (more generally), a person qualified or professionally engaged in any branch of engineering, or studying to do so.
- A person trained to operate an engine.
- A person who operates a steam engine; specifically (nautical), a person employed to operate the steam engine in the engine room of a ship.
- A person trained to operate an engine.
- A person who drives or operates a fire engine (firefighting apparatus).
- A person trained to operate an engine.
- A person who drives or operates a locomotive; a train driver.
- Preceded by a qualifying word: a person who uses abilities or knowledge to manipulate events or people.
- A person who formulates plots or schemes; a plotter, a schemer.
- An honorific title given to engineers before their name.
Verb
Verb Forms: engineered, engineering, engineers
- To design or construct, often with skill or ingenuity.
- design as an engineer
- "He engineered the water supply project"
- plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
- To employ one's abilities and knowledge as an engineer to design, construct, and/or maintain (something, such as a machine or a structure), usually for industrial or public use.
- To use genetic engineering to alter or construct (a DNA sequence), or to alter (an organism).
- To plan or achieve (a goal) by contrivance or guile; to finagle, to wangle.
- To formulate plots or schemes; to plot, to scheme.
- To work as an engineer.
Examples
- a political engineer
- He managed to ENGINEER a surprising win by blocking his opponent’s best moves.
Origin / Etymology
The noun is derived from:
* Middle English enginour (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence, etc.; machine designer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enginour, engigneour [and other forms], and Middle French and Old French engigneor, engigneour, engignier (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence; architect; carpenter; craftsman; designer; planner; one who deceives or schemes”) (modern French ingénieur), from engin (“contraption, device; machine; invention; creativity, ingenuity; intelligence; deception, ruse, trickery”) + -eor, -or (suffix forming agent nouns); engin is derived from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature; intelligence, natural capacity; ability, skill, talent; (Medieval Latin) engine; machine”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + gignere (the present active infinitive of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns); and
* from engine + -er (occupational suffix); and
* from engine + -eer (suffix forming nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities), possibly modelled after Middle French ingénieur (a variant of Middle French, Old French engigneour; see above), and Italian ingegniere (“engineer”) (obsolete; modern Italian ingegnere).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Medieval Latin, Late Latin ingeniārius (“engineer”)
* Medieval Latin ingeniator (“one constructing or using an engine”)
* Old Occitan engenhador, enginhador
* Portuguese engenhador (obsolete), engenheiro (“engineer”)
* Spanish engeñero (obsolete), ingeniero (“engineer”)
Synonyms
applied scientist, direct, engine driver, locomotive engineer, mastermind, orchestrate, organise, organize, railroad engineer, technologist, engineman, machinate
Scrabble Score: 9
engineer: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordengineer: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
engineer: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary