designfuladj.
/dᵻˈzʌɪnf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /dəˈzaɪnf(ə)l/, /diˈzaɪnf(ə)l/ 1. Full of scheming or cunning. Now rare.
ΚΠ
a1677 [implied in: I. Barrow Wks. (1683) II. 108 Drawn over with..features of base designfulness, and malicious cunning. (at designfulness n. 1)].
1682 S. Bond Publick Tryal Quakers in Bermuda. 6 I shall..decline any further observation of this their dangerous and designful practice.
1766 J. Cunningham Poems 131 Beauty no more, the toy of fashion wears, (So late by Love's designful labour drest).
1882 W. A. Baillie-Grohman Camps in Rockies xi. 310 He stood for a long time watching..the designful pigmy who dared to invade his realm.
1919 H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill vi. 186 This poor girl with the designful eyes on him was the oldest living débutante.
2. Planned, intentional; prearranged; full of design (sense 5).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > intention > [adjective] > performed with intention
bethoughtc1200
expressa1400
wilfula1400
purposedc1422
purpensed1436
malice prepensed1454
aforethought1472
studiedc1475
setc1485
voluntary1495
deliberate?1527
willing1550
witting1553
propensed1560
fore-intendeda1586
affected1586
designed1586
determinate1586
intended1592
deliberated1594
uncasual1614
recollecteda1616
resolved1624
industriousa1628
intentionate1631
pre-intended1636
advised1642
malice prepense1647
sedentary1647
propense1650
consultive1651
(crime, evil, etc.) of forethought1692
conscious1726
intentionala1729
systematic1746
studious1750
systematical1750
prepensive1752
advertent1832
self-conscious1832
volitive1839
designful1852
purposeful1853
purposive1864
thought-controlled1926
1852 Opal (Utica, N.Y.) 2 57/2 So many of the public exhibitions of all societies, are formal, or designful.
1867 Fortn. Rev. Oct. 390 The ascription to Kant of designful reticence and intentional obscurity.
1896 F. W. Bussell School of Plato ii. 53 The higher human quality of intelligent and designful arrangement.
1916 E. D. Fawcett World as Imagination ii. ii. 221 A plastic being that is designful in virtue of its eternal character.
1999 M. H. Salmon et al. Introd. Philos. Sci. (new ed.) i. iv. 166 Scientific knowledge is a product which arises from the experimental way of life, a result cooperatively achieved by designful human activity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1677