social engineering

noun

the application of the findings of social science to the solution of actual social problems.

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Origin:
1895–1900

Related forms

social engineer, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To social engineering

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Social engineering is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

social engineering

—n
	the manipulation of the social position and function of individuals in order to manage change in a society

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

social engineering definition

jargon, security
A term used among crackers and samurai for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the tiger team story in the patch entry.
[Jargon File]
(2006-11-22)

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Matching Quote

"Like nuclear power, genetic engineering is not a neutral technology. It is by its very nature too powerful for our present state of social and scientific development, no matter whose hands are controlling it. Just as we would say, especially after Chernobyl, that a nuclear power plant is just as dangerous in a socialist nation as it is in a capitalist one, so I would say the same thing for genetic engineering. It is inherently Eugenic in that it always requires someone to decide what is a good and a bad gene."

-Linda Bullard