design
verb (used with object)
to prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for (a work to be executed), especially to plan the form and structure of.
had been designing
-
past perfect progressiveof design.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, which build the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and had been designing a new generation of destroyers, are now designing the new Trump-class battleship.
From The Wall Street Journal β May 12, 2026
They were married in the new home they had been designing for three years.
From Washington Post β Nov. 27, 2022
Ms. Davis had been designing lingerie and other garments for several years when Walt Disney himself asked her in 1963 if she wanted to work on the costumes for It’s a Small World.
From New York Times β Nov. 18, 2022
We had been designing rings, and Langely had a secret flight planned for mid-March to ask my father’s permission in person.
From New York Times β May 12, 2020
The plans he had been designing began to lose shape in the fearlessness of the new individual whom he had always considered his child to mould as he liked.
From God's Green Country A Novel of Canadian Rural Life by Ethel M. Chapman
