engineering

UK/ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə.ɹɪŋ/US/ˌɛn.d͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ.ɪŋ/

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,186 of 15,258mostly written

Engineering is the study of designing and building machines and structures. Study engineering, civil engineering, an engineering degree.

The distinction from science is purpose: science asks what is true and engineering asks what will work under constraints of cost, time and safety. Factors of safety exist because materials and loads are never known exactly. Note that in Britain the title engineer is not protected by law.

Definitions of engineering

1nounsubjectThe design and building of machines and structures.B1+
“She's studying engineering at university because she loves designing bridges.”

engineering is a discipline.

Where it comes from

From engineer + -ing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in School Subjects

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engineering in the wild

Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production.
Chemical engineering
As a human endeavor, engineering has existed since ancient times, starting with the six classic simple machines.
Engineering
When a deployed product fails, forensic engineering is used to determine what went wrong in order to find a fix.
Engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanisms that may involve force and movement.
Mechanical engineering
In the 19th century, developments in physics led to the development of mechanical engineering science.
Mechanical engineering

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

engineer

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