designer

American  

[dih-zahy-ner] / dɪˈzaɪ nər /

noun

• designers
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• self-designer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• designers
  plural

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

See Examples For:

designer designers

Urchins aren’t new—the Coike was introduced in Japan more than 20 years ago by Hideup owner and designer Hideo Yoshida.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Dani Bekyarova-Delev, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, said she had been confident the designer item, bought in 2024, had been genuine because she had used the platform's authentication service.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Still, the home failed to sell, prompting the musician—who is married to fashion designer Melody Ehsani—to slash his ask once more in March 2024, this time to $6.8 million.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

ME: What do you hope this new collection says about you as a designer?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Burnham replaced him with Edward Shankland, an engineer from his own firm who possessed a national reputation as a designer of bridges.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Phil became an opera company and Disney an almost fullfledged opera house, staging Mozart’s three Da Ponte operas with sets by famed architects, beginning with Gehry, and costumes by edgy designers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Canadian designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran founded the label after meeting as fashion students in Montreal.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

She works with a range of designers and brands, but says she also keeps costs down by reusing items as much as possible.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

As the company looks to unite designers, marketing and engineering teams, it’s also monetizing its growing user base.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

The Aeron chair was the brainchild of two well-known industrial designers, Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

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