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engineer

Syllabification: (en·gi·neer)
Pronunciation: /ˌenjəˈni(ə)r/

Translate engineer | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of engineer

noun

  • a person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or public works.
  • a person qualified in a branch of engineering, especially as a professional:an aeronautical engineer
  • the operator or supervisor of an engine, especially a railroad locomotive or the engine on an aircraft or ship.
  • a skillful contriver or originator of something:the prime engineer of the approach

verb

[with object]
  • design and build (a machine or structure):the men who engineered the tunnel
  • skillfully or artfully arrange for (an event or situation) to occur:she engineered another meeting with him
  • modify (an organism) by manipulating its genetic material: [as adjective, with submodifier]: (engineered)genetically engineered plants

Origin:

Middle English (denoting a designer and constructor of fortifications and weapons; formerly also as ingineer): in early use from Old French engigneor, from medieval Latin ingeniator, from ingeniare 'contrive, devise', from Latin ingenium (see engine); in later use from French ingénieur or Italian ingegnere, also based on Latin ingenium, with the ending influenced by -eer

engineer in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of engineer in the British & World English dictionary

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