Engineered

How to spell engineered

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce engineered

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does engineered mean?

1. verbDesigned and constructed using technical or scientific skill.
2. verbBrought about or arranged deliberately through careful planning, often with a sense of manipulation.

Engineered in a sentence

• The firm engineered a bridge that could carry twice the old load.

• They engineered a quiet meeting so the two managers could settle the dispute.

• The new gearbox was engineered to run quietly at high speed.

• The takeover was carefully engineered over several months.

Where does engineered come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of the verb 'engineer', which itself grew out of the medieval noun for a builder of war machines. The deepest root is the Latin ingenium, meaning natural talent, cleverness, or an ingenious contrivance, formed from in- ('in') and the root gen- ('to produce or give birth to'), the same family that gives us 'ingenious' and 'genius'. From ingenium came the Old French engigneor, a person who designed siege engines and fortifications, and Middle English took this in as 'engineer' during the 1300s. For centuries the word meant a maker of military devices before it broadened in the industrial era to cover anyone who designs machines, structures, or systems. The verb sense, 'to plan and bring something about with skill', and its past form 'engineered' are comparatively modern, and the spelling trap lives in the doubled 'e' of the -eer ending followed by a plain -ed.

How the word is built

• engine (from Latin ingenium: cleverness, device)
• -eer (agent suffix: one who works with)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)