Designated

How to spell designated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce designated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does designated mean?

1. adjectiveOfficially chosen or set aside for a particular role or purpose.
2. verbFormally appointed someone to a role, or specified something for a purpose.

Designated in a sentence

• adjective

  The office has a designated smoking area near the rear car park.

• verb

  The board designated her as the new head of finance last week.

• adjective

  Every group needs a designated driver who stays sober for the journey home.

• verb

  The council designated the old warehouse for redevelopment.

Where does designated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb designare, which meant 'to mark out' or 'to point out', built from the prefix de- (here intensifying, in the sense of 'completely') and signum, the ordinary Latin noun for a 'mark' or 'sign'. The past participle designatus literally described something that had been marked out for a purpose. English took it up in the early 1600s, at first carrying the sense of 'to indicate or specify', and the meaning of formally appointing a person or setting aside a place for a stated use grew naturally from that. The very same signum root sits inside the everyday words 'sign', 'signal', and 'signature', which is a useful reminder that the silent-feeling middle of the word is spelled s-i-g-n, not 'des-ig'. Because the g in 'sign' is barely pronounced, writers sometimes drop it, but keeping the 'sign' chunk visible in the spelling keeps it correct.

How the word is built

• de- (out, completely)
• sign (from Latin signum: mark, sign)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ed (past tense / past participle)