Word.ws English Dictionary

designed

Syllables: de·signed/dɪˈzaɪnd/

designed is the simple past and past participle of design.

Adjective

designed (not comparable)

  1. Created according to a design.
  2. (dated) Planned; designated.
    • The pilgrim had some home or dwelling place, the palmer had none. The pilgrim traveled to some certain, designed place or places, but the palmer to all.1674, Thomas Staveley, The Roman Horseleech

Meaning of design

Verb

design (third-person singular simple present designs, present participle designing, simple past and past participle designed)

  1. (transitive) To plan and carry out (a picture, work of art, construction etc.).
    • comments designed to chip away at my self-esteem
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To plan (to do something).
    • The king designed to mount an expedition to the New World.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To assign, appoint (something to someone); to designate.
    • he looks not below the Moon, but hath designed the regiment of sublunary affairs unto inferiour deputations.1646, Thomas Browne, chapter I, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 10
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To mark out and exhibit; to designate; to indicate; to show; to point out; to appoint.
  5. To manifest requirements to be satisfied by an object or process for them to solve a problem.
    • We shall see / Justice design the victor's chivalry.1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...

See all 12 meanings of design

Words formed from designed

Phrases with designed

Words that rhyme with designed

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about designed

What does designed mean?
Designed means created according to a design.
What is designed the simple past and past participle of?
Designed is the simple past and past participle of design.
What part of speech is designed?
Designed is an adjective.
How do you pronounce designed?
Designed is pronounced /dɪˈzaɪnd/.

Words near designed in the dictionary

  1. designator
  2. designators
  3. designatory
  4. designatum
  5. designe
  6. designed
  7. designedly
  8. designedness
  9. designedst
  10. designee
  11. designees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: designed (page history and authors); design (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-designed.wav, en-us-designed.ogg.

Cite this entry: “designed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/designed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.