designed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of design.

   The architect designed the building to withstand earthquakes.

   The dress was designed by a young newcomer.

   Note

   One regular -ed spelling does two jobs. It is the plain past (she designed the house) and the participle behind both the perfect (has designed) and the passive (was designed by). It often takes an infinitive of purpose: designed to withstand, designed to fit. The verb once also meant to assign or point out, and that meaning lives on in the dated "set apart" adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Created according to a deliberate plan or pattern, rather than arising by accident.

   The exhibit features designed objects rather than found materials.

   Everything in the showroom is carefully designed, down to the lighting.

   Similarplanned, deliberate, intentional, crafted, purposeful

   Oppositeaccidental, unplanned, random

3. 3
   adjectivedated

   Planned or set apart in advance for a particular purpose or role.

   The chamber designed for the council remained closed to outsiders.

   The pilgrim had some home or dwelling place, the palmer had none. The pilgrim traveled to some certain, designed place or places, but the palmer to all.

   1674, Thomas Staveley, The Roman Horseleech

   Similarintended, reserved, destined

   Note

   Here the word leans toward designate rather than toward the drawing board. Thomas Staveley's The Roman Horseleech (1674) contrasts the pilgrim, who traveled to "some certain, designed place," with the palmer, who wandered everywhere. The place was fixed in advance, not built to a plan. Because this use is dated, a modern reader may hear the "made to a plan" meaning instead. In new writing, intended or appointed is clearer.

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