- to indicate or specify
- to give a name to; style; entitle
- to select or name for an office or duty; appoint
- (immediately postpositive) appointed, but not yet in office: a minister designate
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
des•ig•nate /v. ˈdɛzɪgˌneɪt; adj. -nɪt, -ˌneɪt/USA pronunciation
v., -nat•ed, -nat•ing, adj.
v.
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026v.
- [ ~ + obj] to mark or point out;
specify:He designated the points where we would meet. - [ ~ + obj + (as +) obj] to give a name or title to:The neighborhood was designated (as) a historic landmark area.
- to nominate or select;
assign: [ ~ + obj + (as +) obj]:She was designated (as) the chairperson.[ ~ + obj + to + verb]:She designated me to do the work.
adj.
- Government[after a noun] named or selected for an office or position, but not yet installed:named ambassador-designate until her formal nomination procedure was finished.
des•ig•nate
(v. dez′ig nāt′;adj. dez′ig nit, -nāt′),USA pronunciation v., -nat•ed, -nat•ing, adj.
v.t.
adj.
des′ig•na′tive, des•ig•na•to•ry
(dez′ig nə tôr′ē, -tōr′ē, dez′ig nā′tə rē),USA pronunciation adj.
des′ig•na′tor, n.
des′ig•nee′, n.
v.t.
- to mark or point out;
indicate;
show;
specify. - to denote;
indicate;
signify. - to name;
entitle;
style. - to nominate or select for a duty, office, purpose, etc.;
appoint;
assign.
adj.
- Governmentnamed or selected for an office, position, etc., but not yet installed (often used in combination following the noun it modifies):ambassador-designate.
- Latin dēsignātus, past participle of dēsignāre. See design, -ate1
- 1640–50
des′ig•nee′, n.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
designate vb /ˈdɛzɪɡˌneɪt/ (transitive)
'designating' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
access
- anal
- anti-
- blue-collar
- bouclé
- broadloom
- buoy
- capital
- chasseur
- classical
- coloured
- contributory
- coronary
- deontic
- designation
- Dresden
- drip-dry
- Elizabethan
- external
- female
- ferric
- ferrous
- filial
- flowerless
- four-cycle
- four-stroke
- fraternal
- full
- general
- Greek
- half-breed
- half-caste
- herbaceous
- heterologous
- Huguenot
- identical
- invertebrate
- junior
- lamellicorn
- left
- linear
- loader
- Maglemosian
- male
- marginal
- mark
- master
- mastoid
- metropolitan
- A, a