designing

American  

[dih-zahy-ning] / dɪˈzaɪ nɪŋ /

adjective

1. scheming; intriguing; artful; crafty.

   Synonyms:

   sly, tricky, cunning, wily

2. showing or using forethought.

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noun

1. the act or art of making designs.

designing British  

/ dɪˈzaɪnɪŋ /

adjective

1. artful and scheming; conniving; crafty

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Other Word Forms

• designingly adverb
• well-designing adjective

Etymology

Origin of designing

First recorded in 1610–20; design + -ing ², -ing ¹

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.

Example Sentences

Design-software companies Adobe and Figma were hit this week by a report that Anthropic plans to release a new AI-powered tool for designing websites and presentations.

From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026

Future progress will likely depend on reducing noise or designing circuits that can function effectively despite it.

From Science Daily • Apr. 6, 2026

It plans this year to give more potential customers the information and tools they need to start designing the chips they want Rapidus to make one day.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

For that, the Armstrong team had a more focused role designing and testing the network of hundreds of sensors that would be the agency’s eyes and ears for the test.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

He brought home some more tin and left the designing up to her.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers