Undesignated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Not marked or assigned for any specific use or purpose
2. Without formal acknowledgment or classification for a particular role or function
3. Lacking an official assignment or specific purpose in a particular context

Etymology: "Undesignated" is a plain formation: the prefix "un-", meaning "not", attached to "designated," the past participle of "designate." The prefix descends from a very old Germanic negative that English has carried since Old English, when "un-" was already attached to adjectives and participles in exactly this way. Its use with participles is what makes words like this one easy to build on demand. "Designated" itself comes from the Latin "designare," meaning "to mark out" or "to indicate," built from "de-" and "signare" ("to mark"). So "undesignated" literally means "not marked out," and the sense of "assigned to a purpose" is the one the root carries when it is applied to a place, job, or role. An undesignated room, for instance, is one that has been marked for no particular use.

Synonyms: unassigned, unspecified

Antonyms: designated, specified