designation

Noun

designation (countable and uncountable, plural designations)

1. An act or instance of designating

   Synonyms:

   indication

2. Selection and appointment for a purpose or office.
   • His designation as chief justice was controversial.
   • July 2021, Omar Marrero, quoted in CyberNewshttps://web.archive.org/web/20210805184306/https://www.puertoricoheadlinenews.com/15-million-allocated-for-non-profit-organizations/
     The designation of funds by Governor Pedro Pierluisi will also allow non-profit entities to continue providing services to...
3. That which designates; a distinguishing mark or name; distinctive title; appellation.
   • The Romans evolved a quite different system of nomenclature, which in its classical form consisted of three names, the praenomen (e.g. Marcus), nomen (e.g. Tullius), and cognomen (e.g. Cicero), and two other designations (the name of the father and of the tribe): […]1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv
   • Man is the most aggressive animal in the sea (and on the land as well), and all the "man-eater" stories in history will not change this designation.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 144
4. Signification, meaning, for example of a word or phrase.
   • It doesn't list all the connotations that the term may have in various contexts: it specifies the designation of the term, or one of the designations of the term.1953, Jacob Hooper Wise, The Meaning in Reading
5. (obsolete) Purpose, aim, intention.
   • Deſignation, or Deſign, (Lat[in] and French) a purpoſing or contriving.[1658, Edward Phillips, compiler, “Designation”, in The New World of English Words: Or, A General Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Tyler, for Nath[aniel] Brook […], →OCLC, signature M, recto, column 1
   • But ſo far as Words are of Uſe and Signification, ſo far is there a conſtant connexion between the Sound and the Idea; and a Designation, that the one ſtand for the other: without which Application of them, they are nothing, but ſo much inſignificant Noiſe.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of the Signification of Words”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book III, § 7...