designate
Americanverb (used with object)
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designates,
present (3rd person singular)
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designated,
past participle, past
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designating
present participle
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to mark or point out; indicate; show; specify.
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to denote; indicate; signify.
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to name; entitle; style.
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to nominate or select for a duty, office, purpose, etc.; appoint; assign.
adjective
verb
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to indicate or specify
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to give a name to; style; entitle
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to select or name for an office or duty; appoint
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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designatornoun
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dedesignateverb (used with object)
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redesignateverb (used with object)
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designativeadjective
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designatoryadjective
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nondesignateadjective
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nondesignativeadjective
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undesignatedadjective
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undesignativeadjective
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well-designatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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designatesimple
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designatessimple
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have designatedperfect
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has designatedperfect
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am designatingprogressive
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are designatingprogressive
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is designatingprogressive
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have been designatingperfect progressive
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has been designatingperfect progressive
Past
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designatedsimple
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had designatedperfect
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was designatingprogressive
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were designatingprogressive
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had been designatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of designate
1640–50; < Latin dēsignātus, past participle of dēsignāre. See design, -ate 1
Explanation
To designate is to give something a specific status. If you designate your house an opera-free zone, it means that you've officially declared that no opera is allowed to be played there. To give a person or thing an official status is to designate it as something, like when you designate a meeting place if members of your group get lost at the amusement park. Sometimes, it can carry responsibility or an assignment, like when your teammates designate you as the captain. It can also show a category, like when you designate certain books to the humor section of the bookstore where you work.
Vocabulary lists containing designate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The third requires the government to consider economic and national security tradeoffs when deciding whether to designate a particular area as "critical habitat."
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
The court system would have to step in and officially designate the guardian, checking criminal backgrounds first.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
First, no legal authority exists to designate domestic organizations as terrorist groups.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
The proposal would designate the Buildings Department as the single authority overseeing requirements from all other involved agencies so developers aren’t subject to repetitive paperwork and delays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The fair prompted President Harrison to designate October 12 a national holiday, Columbus Day, which today serves to anchor a few thousand parades and a three-day weekend.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
The case stemmed from a broader legal dispute over the renaming of the cultural institution, which US law designates as a memorial to President John F Kennedy.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
China’s latest Five-Year Plan explicitly designates it as one of seven “future industries” set to drive national growth.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
An uncritical viewing designates this as another “all’s well that ends well” gag.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026
Most of these retirements are located in regions of the country the North American Electric Reliability Corporation designates as having an “elevated risk” of electricity shortages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
I look up and see Plutarch Heavensbee in the magnificent purple robe with the fur-trimmed collar that designates him as Head Gamemaker.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
People were classified as having experienced persistent hardship if their questionnaire scores crossed a designated threshold at least twice between the ages of 36 and 53.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
The logic behind building designated night-session matches into the schedule is simple - organisers can make more money.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
EY says the $100 million in rewards is designated for the current fiscal year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
He’s been just serving as the designated hitter in the meantime, while managing lingering inflammation and soreness in his left knee, primarily aggravated by pitching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
If a player didn’t respond after more than a few seconds, the opponent—or a designated timekeeper—would shout “Move!” and if the demand wasn’t complied with, that player would lose the game.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
"It is the first model we are designating at this level, and requires stronger safeguards during development and before release," the blog said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Her letter also called for the government to consider designating Heyford Park and its surrounding area as a priority monitoring site for the chemicals - known as PFAS.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
You can do this by designating a child as an authorized user, which is a person added to a credit-card account by the primary cardholder, although some issuers have age minimums as low as 13.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
Beyond that, they were also beloved by critics and audiences alike, with “WALL-E” deservedly earning a spot in the Criterion Collection in 2022, designating the film as a significant work within the medium of cinema.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
He never declared which of these times we were to abide by, however—which was curious, considering how much he’d talked about the importance of designating a hard deadline and sticking to it no matter what.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
