engineer
/ɛndʒɪˈnɪə
/noun
1A person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or structures.This is important to the engineers who design and build products, because it gives them a tool to determine what the future costs will be....
- This guy is an engineer who designs and builds humanoid robots that are capable of standing and walking on their own, not just some guy who tinkers in his garage.
- In the early days of television, the engineers who designed and built TV picture tubes faced technical problems that caused them to make some compromises.
Synonyms
designer, planner, builder, architect, producer, fabricator, developer, creator;
inventor, originator, deviser, contriver, mastermind
1.1A person qualified in a branch of engineering, especially as a professional: an aeronautical engineer...
- Basso is qualified as an aeronautical engineer, having worked in the United States for NASA near Washington.
- Richie Hindle is a professional software engineer in the UK.
- He is a registered professional engineer in New Hampshire.
2A person who controls an engine, especially on an aircraft or ship.New rules on alcohol have brought air traffic controllers and aircraft engineers into line with pilots although it remains up to individual employers how levels are checked....
- Each of the frigate's flights consists of two pilots, an observer and an aircrewman, plus nine engineers and an aircraft controller.
- Rocket and aircraft engineers have been testing their hardware in computer loop simulations for years.
2.1North American A train driver.This is because a Restricting signal may require that the engineer stop his train for an obstruction shortly beyond the home signal....
- New signs have been installed along the tracks, alerting train engineers to the distance remaining to the railroad crossings in the center of town as they approach the city limits.
- He says that when train engineers blow their horns through town it is blatant harassment.
3A skilful contriver or originator of something: the prime engineer of the approach...
- He is credited as the engineer of this merger, which has created the world's biggest global financial services organization.
- He was the engineer of this change.
- The social engineers in charge of government policy seem to think so.
verb [with object]
1Design and build (a machine or structure): the men who engineered the tunnel...
- Design professionals can contribute to the conservation of materials by designing and engineering structures so they can be more easily taken apart in the future.
- The extended version is designed, engineered and built by the same company.
- Similarly, the Ford Territory is designed, engineered and built in Melbourne.
1.1Modify (an organism) by manipulating its genetic material: (as adjective, with submodifier engineered) genetically engineered plants...
- Many plants and animals are engineered to express human genetic information.
- In order to get patents, it has to be proved that genetically engineered species are completely new, novel, and alien organisms.
- Genetically engineered plants are now grown on more than 100,000 acres.
2Skilfully arrange for (something) to occur: she engineered another meeting with him...
- Grant, who worked as a director with United Biscuits before engineering a management buy-out of Mackay's in 1995, is clear about what he is doing.
- Brenda hadn't ceased to plot, plan and engineer his defeat, regardless if he was the only capable negotiator dedicated to the union's position.
- That has produced a consensus view that China was successfully engineering a managed slowdown.
Synonyms
bring about, cause, arrange, pull off, bring off, fix, set up, plot, scheme, contrive, plan, put together, devise, manoeuvre, manipulate, negotiate, organize, orchestrate, choreograph, mobilize, mount, stage, put on, mastermind, originate, manage, stage-manage, coordinate, control, superintend, direct, conduct, handle, concoct
informal wangle
rare concert
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.