PURPOSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Purpose

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/pˈərpəs/ Listen

noun

Purpose n.

That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. "He will his firste purpos modify." "As my eternal purpose hath decreed." "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it."

Proposal to another; discourse. (Obs.)

Instance; example. (Obs.)

In purpose, Of purpose, On purpose, with previous design; with the mind directed to that object; intentionally. On purpose is the form now generally used.

Synonyms: design; end; intention; aim. See Design.

verb

Purpose v. t. (past & past part. purposed; pres. part. purposing)

To set forth; to bring forward. (Obs.)

To propose, as an aim, to one's self; to determine upon, as some end or object to be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve; often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause. "Did nothing purpose against the state." "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."

Purpose v. i. To have a purpose or intention; to discourse. (Obs.)

See images of 'Purpose'

Etymology of 'Purpose'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Purpose" Quotes from Famous Books

... indulgence of such lavish and useless expenditure, but I would suggest that if we tire with the sameness of our culinary efforts, we at least try some of the new dishes described in this department, established for the sole purpose of their introduction. In so doing we accomplish a multiple purpose. We enlarge the resources of the southwest. We tease stale appetites with a new tang. We offer the world something different, yet native to us. We use modern methods ...

— Her Father's Daughter • Gene Stratton-Porter

... covenants. In him Judaism reached its highest embodiment, and the Old Testament found its noblest exponent. It is significant, therefore, that through his lips the law and the prophets should announce their transitional purpose, and that he who caught up the torch of Hebrew prophecy with a grasp and spirit unrivalled by any before him, should have it in his power and in his heart to say: "The object of all prophecy, the purpose of the Mosaic ...

— John the Baptist • F. B. Meyer

... Susie, and speaking of my relationship to them both. To him I owe the guidance of my life,—all its best impulses, all its worthiest efforts; to her some of its happiest hours, and the blessings alike of incentive and reproof. In reading over Mr. Ruskin's Preface, I note that, either by grace of purpose or happy chance, he has left me one point untouched in our dear friend's character. Her letters inserted here give some evidence of it, but I should like to place on record how her intense delight in sweet and simple things has blossomed into a kind of mental frolic and dainty ...

— Hortus Inclusus - Messages from the Wood to the Garden, Sent in Happy Days - to the Sister Ladies of the Thwaite, Coniston • John Ruskin

... "we must finish with this," and in his turn he pressed Mordaunt hard, who continued to lose ground, but evidently on purpose and without letting his sword leave the line for a moment. However, as they were fighting in a room and had not space to go on like that forever, Mordaunt's foot at last touched the wall, against which he ...

— Twenty Years After • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... their number to way-lay and shoot Mr. Young. The man assigned to this duty was named Aldrich, who concealed himself in the woods near the dwelling of his intended victim, and watched for an opportunity to perpetrate the murderous deed. The habitual circumspection of Mr. Young foiled him in his purpose until he was discovered by a member of the family, and became so frightened as to induce him ...

— Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical • C. L. Hunter

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