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.
He started as an engineer and rose through the ranks, eventually leading several divisions before taking over and designing the company’s breakup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
By combining and designing these gates, researchers can carry out a wide range of more complicated quantum operations.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
AIs are already being used to answer decades-long unsolved complex mathematical problems, and have assisted scientists in speeding up scientific discovery and even designing new viruses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
American chip giant Nvidia said in a June report that it can eliminate water consumption almost entirely at some facilities when deploying DSX, its newest system for designing and managing AI data centers.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
Every step in the decade-long process of designing and building the city predestined to carry his name was supervised by Washington.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
