Designate
//ˈdɛz.ɪɡ.nət// adj, verb
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To mark out and make known; to point out; to indicate; to show; to distinguish by marks or description
"to designate the boundaries of a country"
- 2 design or destine wordnet
- 3 To call by a distinctive title; to name.
""Yes, let 'Sister' Davis have a whack at it too," urged George Bland. Tom Davis, who was Joe Matson's particular chum, was designated "Sister" because, in an incautious moment, when first coming to Excelsior Hall, he had shown a picture of his very pretty sister, Mabel."
- 4 decree or designate beforehand wordnet
- 5 To indicate or set apart for a purpose or duty — with to or for; to designate an officer for or to the command of a post or station.
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- 6 indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively wordnet
- 7 assign a name or title to wordnet
- 8 give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person) wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Designated; appointed; chosen. not-comparable
- 2 Used after a role title to indicate that the person has been selected but has yet to take up the role. UK, not-comparable
"King designate"
Adjective
- 1 appointed but not yet installed in office wordnet
Example
More examples"Blue lines on the map designate rivers."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin dēsignātus, perfect passive participle of designō, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of design.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.