# engineer

Pronunciation: say "en-ji-NEER" US /ˌɛnd͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/, UK /ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə/

## Noun

1. A person qualified in or professionally engaged in any branch of engineering, or studying toward it; originally, one who designed, built, or maintained engines and machinery.
   - Simple: A person who designs, builds, or fixes machines, or who works in any kind of engineering.
   - _The engineer reviewed the blueprints before construction began._
   - _Aspiring engineers spend years mastering math and physics._
5. A person who drives a railway locomotive or a fire engine. *(US)*
   - Simple: A person who drives a train or a fire engine.
   - _The engineer sounded the horn at every crossing along the route._
   - _Veteran engineers know each curve and grade on their line._
6. A soldier who carries out engineering work, such as designing or building structures used in military attack or defense.
   - Simple: A soldier who builds or designs military structures like bridges and defenses.
   - _Combat engineers cleared mines ahead of the advancing column._
   - _Each engineer in the unit trained for months to build bridges under fire._
7. A person who skillfully arranges events or manipulates people, especially the one behind a scheme or plot; often with a qualifying word, as in 'social engineer'.
   - Simple: A person who cleverly plans or controls events or people, often secretly.
   - _The con artist worked as a social engineer, manipulating victims into revealing secrets._
   - _Critics called him a political engineer who manufactured public outrage on demand._
8. A person who operates a steam engine; in nautical use, one employed to run the steam engine in a ship's engine room.
   - Simple: A person who runs a steam engine, especially in the engine room of a ship.
   - _The ship's engineer monitored the boiler pressure through the long crossing._
   - _Below deck, engineers tended the great steam engine in stifling heat._
10. An honorific title placed before the name of a qualified engineer.
   - Simple: A title used in front of an engineer's name as a sign of respect.
   - _Engineer Reyes signed off on the building permit._
   - _The program listed her formally as Engineer Okafor._

## Verb

2. To design, build, or maintain something such as a machine or structure using engineering knowledge, usually for industrial or public use.
   - Simple: To design and build something like a machine or structure using technical skill.
   - _The firm engineered a cooling system that could run continuously for years._
   - _Specialists engineer turbines to withstand extreme heat and pressure._
3. To arrange or bring something about by clever planning, contrivance, or scheming.
   - Simple: To make something happen by clever and sometimes secret planning.
   - _The senator engineered a compromise that satisfied both factions._
   - _Rivals can engineer a takeover quietly before anyone reacts._
4. To alter an organism or construct a DNA sequence using genetic engineering.
   - Simple: To change the genes of a living thing using science.
   - _Researchers engineered the yeast to produce insulin._
   - _Biotech firms engineer crops for higher yields and pest resistance._

## Verb

9. To work as an engineer. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To work in the job of an engineer.

## Noun

11. A soldier whose task is to work a gun or other weapon; an artilleryman or gunner. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A soldier who operates a weapon, like a cannon.

## Origin

The noun comes from Middle English enginour ("one who designs, builds, or operates military machines"), borrowed through Anglo-Norman and Old French forms based on engin ("device, machine, ingenuity, trickery"). Engin itself derives from Latin ingenium ("natural ability, intelligence, skill," and in Medieval Latin "engine"), from in- plus gignere ("to beget, produce"). Later the word was also reinforced by engine plus the suffixes -er and -eer, the latter possibly modelled on French ingénieur and Italian ingegniere. The verb comes from the noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/engineer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).