You’re right about the colloquial definition but I think the OP is more on point about the crux of the issue. Most physical world engineering applications are a

You’re right about the colloquial definition but I think the OP is more on point about the crux of the issue. Most physical world engineering applications are about the skill of stripping away as much as possible and still getting the job done. It’s an exercise of working within constraints. “Over-engineering” is ignoring those constraints.