designate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
Baseball: A Lexicon
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Number the Stars
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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:
As the former head of the State Department’s office that recommended to the secretary of state which groups to designate, I’ve been involved in the designations of hundreds of individuals and organizations.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
For clients who like to pick stocks, advisers may designate a “play money” bucket.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
"We need a regulatory framework, we need to designate operating rules, insurance requirements, accessibility standards, possibly permitting fees, operational limits in high pedestrian areas, and to have accountability for the operators."
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 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
“We wear seven different colors, to designate our jobs. As a maintenance technician, my deck jersey, float coat, and helmet are an ugly green, the color of overcooked peas.”
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
As a terrorism scholar who spent a decade running the State Department office that designates terrorist organizations, I understand their confusion.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 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
It also designates all existing and active idle wells as “nonconforming uses,” meaning they may only operate during the phaseout period and are no longer compliant with current zoning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
A guardian in the legal sense is usually someone a court designates to be in charge of medical and personal decisions for an incapacitated person.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 26, 2026
To initiate spatial teleportation, the traveler enters the STM with the EGG and designates their chosen timeprint.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
TPS provides protection from deportation for people from countries designated as unsafe because of war, natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
This calls for a full-time office designated to rebuild a professional intelligence agency that works.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Because only pitching seems to be aggravating the injury, Ohtani will continue to play at designated hitter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The U.S. has held off on blacklisting CXMT, according to Reuters, though the company has been designated as a national-security risk and approved for the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
These mummies held strong powers and required constant attention from designated Sun Maidens.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
On his first day back in office, US President Donald Trump announced he would increase pressure on Mexico and the cartels, including designating the criminal enterprises terrorist groups.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 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
“You don’t want localities or states getting into the business of designating their enemies or their political adversaries or the people they disagree with as terrorists. That’s just not a good thing,” Sinnar said.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2026
The Pentagon has gone beyond declining to buy from Anthropic by designating it a supply-chain risk, which prevents Anthropic from working as a subcontractor on other Pentagon contracts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
On August 11, 1919, the AFL granted a charter to the Boston Social Club, designating it as Boston Police Union No. 16,807.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
