Showing results for "designing"

• present participle of design.

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

• well-designing
  adjective
• designingly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of designing

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

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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

See Examples For:

designing

"Instead of designing a new material to enable optical switching, we redesigned the light itself and showed new properties that were not previously thought to be possible," Ndao said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026

Johnson, a former creative with Walt Disney Imagineering, leads Gensler’s entertainment and experiences division, which is designing the bookshop.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

After brainstorming suitable targets with Claude, the team settled on designing a synthetic protein that could serve as an antidote to scorpion venom.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

Elsewhere, Indiana-based Insignum AgTech is designing corn crops whose leaves turn purple in reaction to fungal diseases and pests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

Jeffrey and I collaborated on the research, while Anna and Danielle were in charge of designing the arts and crafts activity.

From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea

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