designate

Formsdesignates, designating, designated

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To set apart or assign someone or something for a particular purpose or duty, often with to or for.

   Regulations designate a relief crew for each long-haul shift.

   The mayor moved to designate the warehouse as an emergency shelter.

   Similarassign, appoint, allocate, earmark, nominate

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To mark out and make known; to point out or indicate something, distinguishing it by marks or description.

   Surveyors designate property boundaries with painted stakes.

   The catalog uses small symbols to designate which items are fragile.

   Similarmark, indicate, identify, denote, show

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To call something by a distinctive title; to name it formally.

   Botanists designate hybrids using a standardized naming convention.

   The council chose to designate the square in honor of the late poet.

   Similarname, call, term, dub, label

   Note

   Naming here puts the name straight after the verb, with no as or to between them. In Baseball Joe on the School Nine (1912), Tom Davis "was designated 'Sister'". The passive suits a nickname or label that someone else bestows. Compare the assigning sense, which needs to or for before the duty or post.

4. 4
   adjectiveUK

   Placed after a role title to indicate that the person has been chosen for the position but has not yet taken it up.

   The director designate spent two weeks shadowing her predecessor.

   Reporters questioned the prime minister designate about his early plans.

   Similarelect

   Note

   British usage puts the adjective after the title, so it reads like a label on the office: director designate, prime minister designate. The pattern is old. George Buck's The History of King Richard the Third already writes King designate in 1619. Keep it behind the noun. Placed in front, it reads as the plain "appointed" adjective and loses its sense of an office not yet taken up.

5. 5
   adjective

   Appointed or chosen for a particular role or purpose.

   The designate successor was briefed on her duties weeks in advance.

   Voters approved the designate delegates without objection.

   Similarappointed, chosen, selected, nominated

   Note

   Latin handed English this adjective ready-made. Dēsignātus is the past participle of designō, so the word means exactly what designated means, and it cannot be compared: nothing is more designate than something else. It is a doublet of design, the same Latin word reaching English by another road. Unlike the after-the-title use, it sits before its noun, as in the designate successor.

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