undesign

U1N1D2E1S1I1G2N1

verb

To reverse or fail to implement a design; to design something in a way that deliberately rejects the conventions of designing.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

verbundesign (third-person singular simple present undesigns, present participle undesigning, simple past and past participle undesigned)

present singular third person undesigns · participle present undesigning · participle past undesigned · past undesigned

  1. To reverse or fail to implement a design; to design something in a way that deliberately rejects the conventions of designing.

    If there is a design in these actions, it is to undesign—to provide supplies for recirculation and recontextualization in which a new meaning may be found.

    2010, Joel B. Altman, The Improbability of Othello, page 215
    1 more example

    When not to design and when to undesign? When should we refuse to design something? Are there situations when the use of a particular technology, or even of any technology, is not beneficial?

    Håkan Gulliksson, Pervasive Computing Design for Sustainability: 2nd Edition (page 518)
nounundesign (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe act or process of deliberately undesigning.
    1 more example

    Although it may seem as if undesign calls for the elimination of discipline or intention, to the contrary, undesign thinking guides designers from any knowledge base or perspective to enact their crafts for the full diversity of product users, art viewers, space occupants, and so forth, rather than for creating and thus manipulating homogenous target groups.

    2014, Elizabeth DePoy, Stephen Gilson, Branding and Designing Disability, page 224

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

undesign. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign

MLA

“undesign.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “undesign,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undesign.

Source: undesign on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.