purpose

The end for which something is done, is made or exists.

Noun

  1. The end for which something is done, is made or exists.
    • What is the purpose of your visit?
    • The device can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
    • In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once...

    Synonyms: end point

  2. Function, role.
    • The exceptionally small gate-leg table served the purpose of a tea table admirably.
    • The purpose of the gall-bladder is obviously to permit the accumulation of bile, when it is not wanted in the intestine; and we find it most constantly present in those tribes of animals, which live upon animal food -...
    • As with all life forms, the sole purpose of a virus is to ensure reproduction in kind. - 1982, Lloyd C. Olson, Virus Infections: Modern Concepts and Status, volume 49, page 2:
  3. meaning for existing or doing something.
    • Before being hospitalized, Thea filled her days with work that gave her life purpose. Whether it was teaching, writing, or investing in relationships, Thea was busily and actively engaged in activity that she could feel...
    • This place gave him purpose, gave him joy. It was both his life and his lifeline and she was both thrilled and relieved that he'd recovered enough to be able to maintain the place. - 2015, Donna Kauffman, Snowflake Bay,...
    • A sense of belonging helps to ground the individual by providing a particular way of being in the world which, in turn, helps individuals to make meaning of their life experiences and gives them a sense of purpose,...

    Synonyms: meaning

  4. Resolution; determination.
    • […]purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and...
    • Perhaps you have heard that there was once some purpose of marriage between the Duc de Joyeuse and myself; it is of that which I have to tell. - 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara....
    • United began with more purpose in the early phase of the second half and Liverpool were grateful for Glen Johnson's crucial block from Young's goalbound shot. - 2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:
  5. The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
    • […]he was woont to ſpeake plaine, and to the purpoſe (like an honeſt man and a ſouldier) […] - 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine]...
    • The speech he made was so little to the purpose, that I shall not trouble my Readers with an account of it; and I believe was not so much designed by the Knight himself to inform the Court, as to give him a figure in my...
    • The duke was restless and thoughtful the whole evening, often changed the discourse; like an absent man; and abruptly, quite from the purpose; asked the marshal, "If in his military expeditions, he had ever undertaken...

Origin

From Middle English purpos, from Old French purposer (“to propose”) (with conjugation altered based on poser), from Latin prō- (“forth”) + pōnere (“place, put”), hence Latin prōpōnō, prōpōnere. By surface analysis, pur- + pose (“halt, pause, put, place”).

Forms

purposes

Synonyms

aim goal object target plan intention determination resolution matter subject topic reason for doing something

Hyponyms

common purpose metapurpose

Derived

all-purpose all-purpose flour apurpose by-purpose cross purpose cross-purpose dative of purpose defeat the purpose dispurpose dual-purpose fit for purpose for all intents and purposes forepurpose game with a purpose general-purpose infinitive of purpose mispurpose multipurpose multi-purpose on purpose purpose-built purposeful purposeless purpose-like

Verb

  1. To have or set as one's purpose or aim; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
    • 1485 – Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur, Book X, Chapter xxxvi, leaf 235v Soo was Alysander purposed to ryde to london by the coūceille of sire Tristram to syre Launcelot / "So was Alisander purposed to ride to London,...
    • Our gracious Ancestors, however, purposed Nothing, against these their ancient and implacable Enemies, save what was necessary and indispensable, with respect to their own Preservation. - 1761, Henry Brooke, The Tryal...
    • I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living. - 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of...
  2. To have (an) intention, purpose, or design; to intend; to mean.
    • Upon my ſoul, / You may beleeve him: nor did he ere purpoſe / To me but nobly;[…] - 1622 May 24 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies […],...
  3. To discourse.
    • Whom ouertaking, ſhe in merry ſort Them gan to bord, and purpoſe diuerſly,[…] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 366:
    • Wherein, as yee heape vp the names of a number of men not vnworthy to bee had in honour; ſo there are a number whom when yee mention, although it ſerue yee to purpoſe with the ignorant and vulgar ſort, who meaſure by...

Origin

From Middle English purposen, from Old French purposer (“to propose”).

Forms

purposes purposing purposed

Synonyms

aim intend mean plan set out

Derived

purposed purposer purposive on purpose