intelligent design

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noun

the theory that the universe and living things were designed and created by the purposeful action of an intelligent agent. Abbreviation: ID

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Compare scientific creationism.

Origin of intelligent design

First recorded in 1815–20 , but the sense may date to 1740–45

Words nearby intelligent design

intelligence quotient, intelligencer, intelligence test, intelligent, intelligent card, intelligent design, intelligential, intelligent knowledge-based system, intelligentsia, intelligent terminal, intelligibility

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use intelligent design in a sentence

Beyond the cosmetics, Airstream made some intelligent designs in the guts of this trailer that help it thrive while boondocking.
An Off-Grid Test of Airstream's Most Rugged Trailer|Hayden Coplen|November 22, 2020|Outside Online
How then, does the Intelligent Design movement (ID) persist, in the face of so much damning contrary evidence?
The Crazy Way Creationists Try To Explain Human Tails Without Evolution|Karl W. Giberson|June 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Human tails are a genetic accident—and a big problem for the faux-scientific creationism known as ‘intelligent design.’
The Crazy Way Creationists Try To Explain Human Tails Without Evolution|Karl W. Giberson|June 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I have no idea how Intelligent Design theorists explain humans with tails.
My Debate With an ‘Intelligent Design’ Theorist|Karl W. Giberson|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Young-earth creationists and Intelligent Design (ID) advocates love debates.
My Debate With an ‘Intelligent Design’ Theorist|Karl W. Giberson|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Gone to court to prevent “intelligent design” from being presented as science in a Pennsylvania high school.
P.J. O’Rourke: Who Really Actually Wants This Bill of Rights?|P. J. O’Rourke|April 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Universe displays him in its order and harmony, in the intelligent design shown in its working and its law.
The Life of Mazzini|Bolton King
Strength, originality, and a thoroughly intelligent design are perfectly clear; one feels the impelling mind behind the product.
Essays on Modern Novelists|William Lyon Phelps
Reason teaches us that intelligent design characterizes every act of God.
The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal,|Various
Man observes, and he ascertains that facts are governed according to intelligent design.
The Heavenly Father|Ernest Naville
Who could look upon the adaptation of the eye to light without seeing in It the result of intelligent design?
The Story of the Living Machine|H. W. Conn

British Dictionary definitions for intelligent design

intelligent design

noun

a theory that rejects the theory of natural selection, arguing that the complexities of the universe and of all life suggest an intelligent cause in the form of a supreme creator

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012