A Speaker-designate is a member of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives

House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national states. In some countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "senate". In other countries, the House of...

 who has been selected by the caucus of the majority party to be nominated as Speaker of the House, but who has not yet taken office or been elected by the full House of Representatives, as it is still occupied by the previous Speaker. It is similar to terms such as "President-elect

President-elect

An -elect is a political candidate who has been elected to an office but who has not yet been sworn in or officially taken office. These may include an incoming president, senator, representative, governor and mayor.Analogously, the term "designate" An -elect is a political candidate who has been...

." It differs from the term Speaker-presumptive

Speaker-presumptive

A Speaker-presumptive is a member of a House of Representatives or other lower House who has not yet been formally selected as Speaker of the House, but who it is assumed will be at the next available opportunity. Typically, this applies to a Minority Leader who is expected to become Speaker upon...

in that a Speaker-presumptive is assumed to be the incoming Speaker, but he or she has not been formally selected to be nominated for Speaker by the majority party's caucus.