Misengineered

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Designed or constructed with faulty engineering, so that the product or system does not work as intended
2. Built or planned badly by engineers, resulting in a structure, device or system that is flawed
3. Having been poorly conceived or assembled through errors in the engineering process, leaving it unsafe or ineffective

Etymology: "Misengineered" is the past tense and past participle of "misengineer," a verb formed from the prefix "mis-" (meaning wrongly or badly) and "engineer." The base word goes back to the Old French "engigneor," a maker of siege machines and military contrivances, which itself descends from the Latin "ingenium," meaning cleverness or innate talent. So the core idea in "engineer" is ingenuity, and the prefix simply adds the sense of getting that skilled work wrong. Because "misengineer" is built transparently from two common parts, its meaning follows directly from them: to design, build, or arrange something poorly or incorrectly. The verb is most often used of technical systems and projects, where a flawed design or a faulty implementation leaves a structure or process failing to work as intended.