Meanings
plural designated drivers
- A person who avoids drinking alcohol at a social engagement for the purpose of driving their companions home.
I’m his Lyft driver, or, as I have come to think of it, his designated driver on demand.
2020 February 27, Peter Jakubowicz, “The Drunk Men I Drive Around Every Night”, in Slate Magazine1 more example
Back in the 1980s, the Harvard School of Public Health mounted a campaign to normalize the idea of a “designated driver” to reduce drunk driving. Jay Winsten of Harvard spent weeks in Hollywood, meeting with 250 executive producers and head writers, asking them to work the concept of a designated driver into their TV scripts. Many agreed.
2014 March 27, Robin Marantz Henig, “Fictional Plotlines and Real Assisted Suicide”, in The AtlanticSynonyms: DD
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who avoids drinking alcohol at a social engagement for the purpose of driving their companions home.
Translations
Dutch bob
- bobIndividual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home
Finnish juoppokuski
- juoppokuskiIndividual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home
French conducteur désigné, bob
- conducteur désignéIndividual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home
- bobIndividual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home
Portuguese piloto da vez
- piloto da vezIndividual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home
Cite this entry
designated driver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/designated%20driver
“designated driver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/designated%20driver. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “designated driver,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/designated%20driver.
Source: designated driver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.