Reverse-engineer
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who reverse-engineers products.
"A reverse-engineer can in theory do a variety of things with the information she obtains."
- 1 To derive or duplicate the design, technical specifications, manufacturing methods, or functionality of an object by studying an existing product, prototype, etc.
"1997, Roy A. Sorensen, "The Metaphysics of Precision and Scientific Language," Noûs, vol. 31, Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives, 11, p. 363, Each creature was viewed as the artifact of a divine blueprint. The role of the biologist was to reverse engineer God's handiwork."
- 2 To create or modify an implementation to better conform to a desired goal.
"Typically, you complete some design, some implementation, some testing, come up with some good ideas which you implement, and then reverse-engineer your implementation into an improved design."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"1997, Roy A. Sorensen, "The Metaphysics of Precision and Scientific Language," Noûs, vol. 31, Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives, 11, p. 363, Each creature was viewed as the artifact of a divine blueprint. The role of the biologist was to reverse engineer God's handiwork."
Etymology
Back-formation from reverse engineering.
More for "reverse-engineer"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.