designer

American  

[dih-zahy-ner] / dɪˈzaɪ nər /

noun

1. a person who devises or executes designs, especially one who creates forms, structures, and patterns, as for works of art or machines.

2. a schemer, intriguer, or plotter.

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adjective

1. designed or created by or carrying a label or identification of a designer, especially a fashion designer, but often mass-produced.

   designer jeans.

2. created for intentional effect through chemical or genetic modification, as for a designer drug, or through crossbreeding, as for a designer dog.

designer British  

/ dɪˈzaɪnə /

noun

1. a person who devises and executes designs, as for works of art, clothes, machines, etc

2. (modifier) designed by and bearing the label or signature of a well-known fashion designer

   designer jeans

3. (modifier) (of things, ideas, etc) having an appearance of fashionable trendiness

   designer pop songs

   designer stubble

4. (modifier) (of cells, chemicals, etc) designed (or produced) to perform a specific function or combat a specific problem

   designer insecticide

5. (modifier) (of an animal) cross-bred for a specific purpose, such as looks, temperament, or likelihood of causing an allergy

   designer dogs

6. a person who devises plots or schemes; intriguer

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Other Word Forms

• self-designer noun

Etymology

Origin of designer

First recorded in 1640–50; design + -er ¹

Explanation

A designer is a person who plans how something will look. An architect is a designer of buildings, drawing detailed blueprints indicating what the structures should look like and how they should be built. The word designer came into English in the seventeenth century meaning "one who schemes." The word soon came to describe someone who figures out how something should look, especially something artistic. If you're reading a newspaper, a graphic designer planned how the text and images should look on each page. You might also be familiar with a fashion designer, someone who comes up with a vision for a garment and creates sketches to show what the finished product will look like.

Example Sentences

Kari Weaver is an interior designer who lost her home in the Palisades fire and a member of Resilient Palisades, a group that’s advocating all-electric rebuilds.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026

Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt’s quaint tearoom seems both real and hallucinatory, with a melancholy rain pouring down in the background.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

And, sure, try out a personal shopper or interior designer, after asking to see their work.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

Last month, Nvidia, the world’s biggest chip designer, announced that it would offer a new customized inference processing system that integrates chips designed by Groq, a competitor to Cerebras.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Hina is ten years younger than Mom, has short hair, a zillion funky pairs of eyeglasses, is this amazing graphic designer and cool in ways I can only aspire to.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

Related Words

• architect
• author
• engineer
• fashion designer
• inventor
• maker
• planner
• producer