undesigned
English
Etymology
un- + designed
Adjective
undesigned (not comparable)
- Not designed, not intended.
- 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edlin, […]; W[illiam] Mears, […]; J. Brotherton, […]; C. King, and J. Stags, […], published 1722, OCLC 745118774, page 120:
- The living in this manner with him, and his with me, was certainly the moſt undeſigned thing in the World; he often proteſted to me, that when he became firſt acquainted with me, and even to the very Night when we firſt broke in upon our Rules, he never had the leaſt Deſign of lying with me; that he always had a ſincere Affection for me, but not the leaſt real Inclination to do what he had done; [...]
- 1792, William Bligh, chapter VI, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], OCLC 3363691, page 73:
- “Yes,” he ſaid, “I will ſend him anything I have;” and then began to enumerate the different articles in his power, among which he mentioned the bread-fruit. This was the exact point to which I wiſhed to bring the converſation; and, ſeizing an opportunity, which had every appearance of being undeſigned and accidental, I told him the bread-fruit-trees were what King George would like; upon which he promiſed me a great many ſhould be put on board, and ſeemed much delighted to find it ſo eaſily in his power to ſend any thing that would be well received by King George.
- 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, OCLC 1708336, page 76:
- She knows nothing herself, and looks upon Emma as knowing every thing. She is a flatterer in all her ways; and so much the worse, because undesigned. Her ignorance is hourly flattery.
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- Not designed, not drawn or planned before being made.
- 1985 December 30, Duffy, Martha, “Just the Way You Look Tonight Couture”, in Time:
- Paul Poiret, the first celebrity couturier, left nothing undesigned, not only what a woman wore but everything she touched.
- 2012 February 24, Hayward, Tim, “Memories served cold”, in Financial Times:
- No, the new caring world of sustainable, recyclable, organic food gets the sustainable, recyclable, organic packaging it deserves and we must select from ranks of hessian bags marked with stout, sans-serif faces from a simpler era – packages that have been designed to within an inch of their lives to say “undesigned”.
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Synonyms
- (not intended): designless, unintended; see also Thesaurus:unintentional
- (not designed): unpremeditated; see also Thesaurus:impromptu
Derived terms
- undesignedly
Translations
Not designed, not intended
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