Meaning & use
rocket scientist
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A scientist or engineer who designs and builds rockets and spacecraft.
Grammar: A normal countable noun: a rocket scientist, two rocket scientists.
Patterns
- a rocket scientist at something
Her aunt is a rocket scientist who works on satellite launches.
A team of rocket scientists tested the new engine.
He studied physics to become a rocket scientist.
nouncountableinformalhumorous
Someone who is very clever; mostly used in negative sentences to say a task is not hard.
Grammar: Almost always negative or joking: you don't need to be a rocket scientist.
Patterns
- you don't need to be a rocket scientist to do something
- it doesn't take a rocket scientist
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the pipe is leaking.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out why the shop failed.
I'm no rocket scientist, but this plan looks risky to me.
Word forms
| plural | rocket scientists |
|---|
Common combinations
- not a rocket scientist
- I'm not a rocket scientist, but I can follow instructions.
- don't need to be a rocket scientist
- You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand this chart.
- doesn't take a rocket scientist
- It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the crowd wanted more.
- NASA rocket scientist
- A NASA rocket scientist visited the school.
- a real rocket scientist
- He talked as though he were a real rocket scientist.
Synonyms and how they differ
- aerospace engineer
- An aerospace engineer is the formal job title, while rocket scientist is the popular term.
- genius
- Genius means someone of extraordinary ability in any field, while rocket scientist is a specific job used as a comparison.
- brain surgeon
- Brain surgeon is used in the same joking way and likewise stands for very hard work.
Word family
Commonly confused: rocket scientist or rocket science?
rocket scientist vs rocket science
Rocket science is the subject or the idea of difficulty, as in 'it isn't rocket science', while a rocket scientist is the person.
Practice
What does the speaker mean by 'It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the roof is leaking'?
Choose one answer.
The idiom says something is obvious or simple, so anyone can notice the leak. The other options take rocket scientist literally.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rocket scientist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.