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:
First, no legal authority exists to designate domestic organizations as terrorist groups.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
For clients who like to pick stocks, advisers may designate a “play money” bucket.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
“After thoughtful discussions, the City of West Hollywood, the WeHo Pride production team, and Kathy Hilton have determined that the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade will not designate a Grand Marshal Icon honoree,” read the statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
A wildlife haven in Ayrshire has been "trashed" due to a four-year wait over whether or not to designate the site for protection, according to environmental campaigners.
From BBC ● May 3, 2026
“Now,” boomed Wednesday, over the mechanical music, “at the start of any quest or enterprise it behooves us to consult the Norns. So let us designate this Sybil our Urd, eh?”
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Second, the order designates as an organization something the FBI’s past leadership has described as an ideology.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
The case stems 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 ● Jun. 13, 2026
The Five-Year Plan designates quantum as one of seven frontier technologies, with coordinated commercialization efforts focused on a smaller set of institutions.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
This document designates someone to handle medical issues on your behalf, giving them the ability to communicate with your doctors.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
Denmark gives its citizens the choice of three official genders: male, female, and X.The White House designates a gender-neutral bathroom for visitors and staff.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
River and drops off near Griffith Park, was included in a 2016 city planning report as one of the city’s designated scenic highways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The Chinese government has designated robotics a strategic industry, and says that by last year, more than 140 Chinese companies had already launched more than 330 humanoid robot models.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Each account has designated beneficiaries, and those beneficiaries are aware that I hold her power of attorney.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
The Philippine government has designated the roughly 260-square-mile area an economic development zone, pitching the bay’s tropical beaches and scuba diving on World War II shipwrecks to tourists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Luma designated the two chain-link baseball backstops on the field as goals.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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
But as Exxon replies, a “substantial portion of the S&P 500 including the majority of Delaware incorporated issuers, maintain exclusive-forum provisions designating a single court for internal affairs litigation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Each library cart was labeled with two laminated cards: one with the name of a team, the other designating a range of Dewey decimal numbers.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
