1. (n.) To draw preliminary outline or main features of; to sketch for a pattern or model; to delineate; to trace out; to draw.
2. (n.) To mark out and exhibit; to designate; to indicate; to show; to point out; to appoint.
3. (n.) To create or produce, as a work of art; to form a plan or scheme of; to form in idea; to invent; to project; to lay out in the mind; as, a man designs an essay, a poem, a statue, or a cathedral.
4. (n.) To intend or purpose; -- usually with for before the remote object, but sometimes with to.
5. (v. i.) To form a design or designs; to plan.
6. (n.) A preliminary sketch; an outline or pattern of the main features of something to be executed, as of a picture, a building, or a decoration; a delineation; a plan.
7. (n.) A plan or scheme formed in the mind of something to be done; preliminary conception; idea intended to be expressed in a visible form or carried into action; intention; purpose; -- often used in a bad sense for evil intention or purpose; scheme; plot.
8. (n.) Specifically, intention or purpose as revealed or inferred from the adaptation of means to an end; as, the argument from design.
9. (n.) The realization of an inventive or decorative plan; esp., a work of decorative art considered as a new creation; conception or plan shown in completed work; as, this carved panel is a fine design, or of a fine design.
10. (n.) The invention and conduct of the subject; the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole.
Thesaurus Entries
abstract art, action, aim, aim at, ambition, anagnorisis, angle, animus, approach, architectonics, architecture, argument, arrange, arrangement, art, art form, art object, artful dodge, artifice, artist, arts and crafts, arts of design, aspiration, aspire after, aspire to, atmosphere, attack, background, background detail, bag of tricks, balance, be after, beget, black and white, blind, blueprint, blueprinting, bluff, bosey, brainchild, breed, bric-a-brac, bring forth, bring into being, brouillon, brushwork, cabal, calculate, calculation, call into being, calligraphy, canon form, cartoon, cast, catastrophe, catch, cave art, ceramics, chalk, characterization, charcoal, charcoal drawing, chart, charting, chiaroscuro, chicanery, chouse, classic, coin, color, complication, composition, conation, conceive, conception, concert, concoct, configuration, connivance, conniving, conspiracy, constitution, construct, construction, contemplate, continuity, contrivance, contrive, cook up, copy, counsel, coup, craft, crayon, create, creation, crosshatch, curve, curve-ball, cut out, cute trick, dash off, daub, deceit, decoration, decorative composition, decorative style, deliberation, delineate, delineation, denouement, depict, desideration, desideratum, designing, designs, desire, destine, detail, determination, determine, develop, development, device, devise, diagram, dirty deal, dirty trick, disposition, dodge, doodle, dope out, draft, draftsmanship, draw, draw up, drawing, dream up, drive at, ebauche, effect, elevation, engender, engraving, enterprise, envisage, envisagement, envision, episode, esquisse, etching, evil intent, evolve, expedient, fable, fabricate, fakement, falling action, fashion, fast deal, feint, fetch, ficelle, figure, figuring, fine arts, fixed purpose, foil, folk art, forecast, foreground detail, foresight, forethought, forge, form, format, formation, frame, fugue form, function, gambit, game, game plan, generate, gimmick, give being to, give rise to, go for, goal, googly, graph, graphic arts, graphing, grift, grotesque, ground plan, grouping, guidelines, harbor a design, hatch, have every intention, hocus-pocus, house plan, ichnography, idea, improvise, incident, intend, intendment, intent, intention, intrigue, invent, invention, joker, juggle, jugglery, kitsch, knavery, lay out, lay plans, layout, lied form, limn, line, line drawing, lineup, little game, local color, long-range plan, machination, make, make a projection, make arrangements, make do with, make up, maneuver, manipulation, map, map out, mapping, master, master plan, masterpiece, masterwork, mature, mean, meaning, method, methodize, methodology, mind, mint, mobile
