designing

American  

[dih-zahy-ning] / dɪˈzaɪ nɪŋ /

adjective

1. scheming; intriguing; artful; crafty.

   Synonyms:

   sly, tricky, cunning, wily

2. showing or using forethought.

---

noun

1. the act or art of making designs.

designing British  

/ dɪˈzaɪnɪŋ /

adjective

1. artful and scheming; conniving; crafty

---

Other Word Forms

• designingly adverb
• well-designing adjective

Etymology

Origin of designing

First recorded in 1610–20; design + -ing ², -ing ¹

Explanation

The adjective designing describes those who secretly scheme to get what they want, even if it means cheating others, like the designing group member who tricks everyone else into doing all the work for their shared project. You might incorrectly assume designing means "creative," in the sense of a fashion designer, but instead of beautiful clothing, the designing person dreams only of his or her own best interests — before anyone else's. Someone who’s designing plans ahead to make sure things go his way, even if it means lying or making other people look bad. A good synonym for designing is scheming.

Example Sentences

The center was also designing and testing mock-ups of a lunar lander, which Armstrong — now the center’s namesake — later used to practice landing on the moon while still here on Earth.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

The Facebook owner’s shares closed down 8% on Thursday after a landmark social-media trial found both Meta and Alphabet’s Google contributed to a plaintiff’s mental health issues by designing addictive social-media platforms.

From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026

It was Bell Labs’ responsibility, in other words, to create technologies for designing, expanding and improving an unruly communications network of cables and microwave links and glass fibers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

This work shows that arranging nitrogen groups in specific adjacent patterns can be done reliably, providing a clear strategy for designing improved carbon capture materials.

From Science Daily • Mar. 28, 2026

At Oppenheimer’s office on the Berkeley campus, they began designing the atomic bomb.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin