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

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

See Examples For:

designing

The findings could help researchers better understand existing complex systems, particularly ecological networks, while also providing engineers with new strategies for designing systems from the ground up.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

I started working at Mattel in 1999 designing Barbie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

A ceiling on computing power, fewer frontier training runs or limits on AI systems designing their successors would strike much closer to the semiconductor industry.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Han said this leaner version of the company aims to pivot from designing truck bodies to developing and improving software for trucks made by contract factories.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

I may have no interest in designing clothes but I do love the ones Cinna makes for me.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins