See reverse-engineer on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "reverse engineering"
},
"expansion": "Back-formation from reverse engineering",
"name": "back-formation"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Back-formation from reverse engineering.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineering",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineered",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineered",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "reverse-engineer (third-person singular simple present reverse-engineers, present participle reverse-engineering, simple past and past participle reverse-engineered)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "reverse engineering"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "work backward"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1997, Roy A. Sorensen, \"The Metaphysics of Precision and Scientific Language,\" Noûs, vol. 31, Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives, 11, p. 363,\nEach creature was viewed as the artifact of a divine blueprint. The role of the biologist was to reverse engineer God's handiwork."
},
{
"ref": "2002, P. Samuelson, S. Scotchmer, “The Law and Economics of Reverse Engineering”, in The Yale Law Journal, volume 111, number 7, page 1584:",
"text": "In theory, there should be no need to reverse-engineer a patented invention to get information about how to make it because the patent specification should inform the relevant technical community of how to make the invention.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To derive or duplicate the design, technical specifications, manufacturing methods, or functionality of an object by studying an existing product, prototype, etc."
],
"id": "en-reverse-engineer-en-verb-3FYhjclj",
"links": [
[
"derive",
"derive"
],
[
"duplicate",
"duplicate"
],
[
"design",
"design"
],
[
"technical",
"technical"
],
[
"specification",
"specification"
],
[
"manufacturing",
"manufacturing"
],
[
"method",
"method"
],
[
"functionality",
"functionality"
],
[
"product",
"product"
],
[
"prototype",
"prototype"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"sense": "duplicate a design",
"word": "hack"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "進行逆向工程"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jìnxíng nìxiàng gōngchéng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "进行逆向工程"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "實施反向工程"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shíshī fǎnxiàng gōngchéng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "实施反向工程"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "nìxiàng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "逆向"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "takaisinmallintaa"
},
{
"_dis1": "100 0",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"word": "reversata"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2003, Per Kroll, Philippe Kruchten, The Rational Unified Process Made Easy, →ISBN:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Brian L. Smith, 3ds Max Design Architectural Visualization, →ISBN:",
"text": "As a matter of preference, always prefer to reverse engineer a roof plan, even when one already exists, but both methods will be discussed here along with their benefits and drawbacks.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018 December 27, Patrick Radden Keefe, “How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success”, in The New Yorker:",
"text": "When this happened, Braun said, the editors were often obliged to “reverse engineer” the episode, scouring hundreds of hours of footage to emphasize the few moments when the exemplary candidate might have slipped up, in an attempt to assemble an artificial version of history in which Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip decision made sense.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To create or modify an implementation to better conform to a desired goal."
],
"id": "en-reverse-engineer-en-verb-nD1j3P8s",
"links": [
[
"implementation",
"implementation"
],
[
"desired",
"desired"
],
[
"goal",
"goal"
]
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "reverse engineer"
}
],
"word": "reverse-engineer"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "reverse engineering"
},
"expansion": "Back-formation from reverse engineering",
"name": "back-formation"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Back-formation from reverse engineering.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "reverse-engineer (plural reverse-engineers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "68 21 11",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English back-formations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "78 14 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "79 13 8",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "78 13 9",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "91 5 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "81 10 9",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "67 20 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Greek translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "76 13 12",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "86 3 11",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Occupations",
"orig": "en:Occupations",
"parents": [
"People",
"Work",
"Human",
"Human activity",
"All topics",
"Human behaviour",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "57 11 32",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1998, M. Lemley, D. McGowan, “Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects”, in California Law Journal, volume 86, number 3, page 524:",
"text": "A reverse-engineer can in theory do a variety of things with the information she obtains.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A person who reverse-engineers products."
],
"id": "en-reverse-engineer-en-noun-TcR~-0hF",
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "nìxiàng gōngchéng zhě",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "逆向工程者"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "fǎnxiàng gōngchéng zhě",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "反向工程者"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "takaisinmallintaja"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"word": "reversaaja"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "anástrofos michanikós",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"masculine"
],
"word": "ανάστροφος μηχανικός"
}
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "reverse engineer"
}
],
"word": "reverse-engineer"
}
{
"categories": [
"English back-formations",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"en:Occupations",
"en:People"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "reverse engineering"
},
"expansion": "Back-formation from reverse engineering",
"name": "back-formation"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Back-formation from reverse engineering.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineering",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineered",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "reverse-engineered",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "reverse-engineer (third-person singular simple present reverse-engineers, present participle reverse-engineering, simple past and past participle reverse-engineered)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "reverse engineering"
},
{
"word": "work backward"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1997, Roy A. Sorensen, \"The Metaphysics of Precision and Scientific Language,\" Noûs, vol. 31, Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives, 11, p. 363,\nEach creature was viewed as the artifact of a divine blueprint. The role of the biologist was to reverse engineer God's handiwork."
},
{
"ref": "2002, P. Samuelson, S. Scotchmer, “The Law and Economics of Reverse Engineering”, in The Yale Law Journal, volume 111, number 7, page 1584:",
"text": "In theory, there should be no need to reverse-engineer a patented invention to get information about how to make it because the patent specification should inform the relevant technical community of how to make the invention.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To derive or duplicate the design, technical specifications, manufacturing methods, or functionality of an object by studying an existing product, prototype, etc."
],
"links": [
[
"derive",
"derive"
],
[
"duplicate",
"duplicate"
],
[
"design",
"design"
],
[
"technical",
"technical"
],
[
"specification",
"specification"
],
[
"manufacturing",
"manufacturing"
],
[
"method",
"method"
],
[
"functionality",
"functionality"
],
[
"product",
"product"
],
[
"prototype",
"prototype"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2003, Per Kroll, Philippe Kruchten, The Rational Unified Process Made Easy, →ISBN:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Brian L. Smith, 3ds Max Design Architectural Visualization, →ISBN:",
"text": "As a matter of preference, always prefer to reverse engineer a roof plan, even when one already exists, but both methods will be discussed here along with their benefits and drawbacks.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018 December 27, Patrick Radden Keefe, “How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success”, in The New Yorker:",
"text": "When this happened, Braun said, the editors were often obliged to “reverse engineer” the episode, scouring hundreds of hours of footage to emphasize the few moments when the exemplary candidate might have slipped up, in an attempt to assemble an artificial version of history in which Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip decision made sense.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To create or modify an implementation to better conform to a desired goal."
],
"links": [
[
"implementation",
"implementation"
],
[
"desired",
"desired"
],
[
"goal",
"goal"
]
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "duplicate a design",
"word": "hack"
},
{
"word": "reverse engineer"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "進行逆向工程"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jìnxíng nìxiàng gōngchéng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "进行逆向工程"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "實施反向工程"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shíshī fǎnxiàng gōngchéng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "实施反向工程"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "nìxiàng",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "逆向"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"word": "takaisinmallintaa"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "duplicate design",
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"word": "reversata"
}
],
"word": "reverse-engineer"
}
{
"categories": [
"English back-formations",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"en:Occupations",
"en:People"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "reverse engineering"
},
"expansion": "Back-formation from reverse engineering",
"name": "back-formation"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Back-formation from reverse engineering.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "reverse-engineer (plural reverse-engineers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1998, M. Lemley, D. McGowan, “Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects”, in California Law Journal, volume 86, number 3, page 524:",
"text": "A reverse-engineer can in theory do a variety of things with the information she obtains.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A person who reverse-engineers products."
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "reverse engineer"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "nìxiàng gōngchéng zhě",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "逆向工程者"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "fǎnxiàng gōngchéng zhě",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "反向工程者"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"word": "takaisinmallintaja"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"word": "reversaaja"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "anástrofos michanikós",
"sense": "one who reverse-engineers",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"masculine"
],
"word": "ανάστροφος μηχανικός"
}
],
"word": "reverse-engineer"
}
Download raw JSONL data for reverse-engineer meaning in All languages combined (6.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.