- present participle of design.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of designing
Explanation
The adjective designing describes those who secretly scheme to get what they want, even if it means cheating others, like the designing group member who tricks everyone else into doing all the work for their shared project. You might incorrectly assume designing means "creative," in the sense of a fashion designer, but instead of beautiful clothing, the designing person dreams only of his or her own best interests — before anyone else's. Someone who’s designing plans ahead to make sure things go his way, even if it means lying or making other people look bad. A good synonym for designing is scheming.
Vocabulary lists containing designing
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.
This finding challenges a long-standing assumption about how hydrogen participates in catalytic reactions and could provide valuable clues for designing better catalysts.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
As early as 1913 she was designing heart-stopping gowns for their movies, which in turn brought renown to her fashion house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Rhys Phillips, the Bank's incoming chief cashier who will be responsible for the roll-out of the new series of notes, said the process of designing, testing and printing banknotes could take years.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Last year, the chemistry prize went to Japan's Susumu Kitagawa, UK-born Richard Robson and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi for developing a method of designing molecular structures.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
For the past three years, she's been earning good money designing websites.
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
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.
