Purpose

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: pur=pose

CIDE DICTIONARY

Purpose, n. [OF. purpos, pourpos, propos, L. propositum. See Propound.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "He will his firste purpos modify."  [1913 Webster]

  "As my eternal purpose hath decreed."  [1913 Webster]

  "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook
  Unless the deed go with it."  [1913 Webster]
•  Proposal to another; discourse.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  Instance; example.  L'Estrange.  [1913 Webster]

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.

Syn. -- design; end; intention; aim. See Design.

Purpose, v. t. [OF. purposer, proposer. See Propose.].

•  To set forth; to bring forward.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Did nothing purpose against the state."  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]

Purpose, v. i. 

 To have a purpose or intention; to discourse.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Purpose, n. & v.
--n.
1 an object to be attained; a thing intended.
2 the intention to act.
3 resolution, determination.
--v.tr. have as one's purpose; design, intend.

Idiom

on purpose intentionally. purpose-built (or -made) built or made for a specific purpose. to no purpose with no result or effect. to the purpose
1 relevant.
2 useful.

Etymology

ME f. OF porpos, purpos f. L proponere (as PROPOUND)

THESAURUS

Purpose

advantage, aim, aim at, ambition, animus, aspiration, aspire, aspire after, aspire to, avail, be after, benefit, by design, commitment, conclude, consciously, consider, contemplate, counsel, decide, decidedness, decision, decisiveness, dedication, definiteness, deliberately, deliberateness, deliberation, desideration, desideratum, design, designedly, desire, destination, destine, determinateness, determination, determine, determinedness, devotion, direction, doggedness, drive, drive at, duty, earnestness, effect, end, end use, especially, exactly, expressly, firmness, fix, fixed purpose, function, gain, go for, goal, good, harbor a design, have every intention, have in mind, have in view, idea, immediate purpose, in particular, intend, intendment, intent, intention, intentionally, knowingly, long, mark, mean, meaning, meditate, mind, mission, motivation, motive, nisus, object, objective, obstinacy, office, on purpose, operation, operational purpose, outcome, perseverance, persistence, plan, point, ponder, practicality, precisely, principle, profit, project, proposal, propose, proposition, prospectus, purport, purposefulness, purposely, rationale, reason, relentlessness, resoluteness, resolution, resolve, resolvedness, result, role, sake, scheme, seal, self-will, seriousness, settle, sincerity, single-mindedness, specially, specifically, steadfastness, striving, stubbornness, study, take a resolution, target, tenacity, think, total commitment, ultimate purpose, use, usefulness, utility, view, will, wittingly, work, yearn

ROGET THESAURUS

Purpose

Intention

N intent, intention, intentionality, purpose, quo animo, project, undertaking, predetermination, design, ambition, contemplation, mind, animus, view, purview, proposal, study, look out, final cause, raison d'etre, cui bono, object, aim, end, the be all and the end all, drift, tendency, destination, mark, point, butt, goal, target, bull's-eye, quintain, prey, quarry, game, decision, determination, resolve, fixed set purpose, settled purpose, ultimatum, resolution, wish, arriere pensee, motive, teleology, intended, intentional, advised, express, determinate, prepense, bound for, intending, minded, bent upon, at stake, on the anvil, on the tapis, in view, in prospect, in the breast of, in petto, teleological, intentionally, advisedly, wittingly, knowingly, designedly, purposely, on purpose, by design, studiously, pointedly, with intent, deliberately, with one's eyes open, in cold blood, for, with a view, with an eye to, in order to, in order that, to the end that, with the intent that, for the purpose of, with the view of, in contemplation of, on account of, in pursuance of, pursuant to, quo animo, to all intents and purposes, The road to hell is paved with good intentions, sublimi feriam sidera vertice.

VB intend, purpose, design, mean, have to, propose to oneself, harbor a design, have in view, have in contemplation, have in one's eye, have in petto, have an eye to, bid for, labor for, be after, aspire after, endeavor after, be at, aim at, drive at, point at, level at, aspire at, take aim, set before oneself, study to, take upon oneself, take into one's head, meditate, contemplate of, think of, dream of, talk of, premeditate, compass, calculate, destine, destinate, propose, project, have a mind to, desire, pursue.

Irrelation

N irrelation, dissociation, misrelation, inapplicability, inconnection, multifariousness, disconnection, inconsequence, independence, incommensurability, irreconcilableness, heterogeneity, unconformity, irrelevancy, impertinence, nihil ad rem, intrusion, non-pertinence, irrelative, irrespective, unrelated, arbitrary, independent, unallied, unconnected, disconnected, adrift, isolated, insular, extraneous, strange, alien, foreign, outlandish, exotic, not comparable, incommensurable, heterogeneous, unconformable, irrelevant, inapplicable, not pertinent, not to the, purpose, impertinent, inapposite, beside the mark, a propos de bottes, aside from the purpose, away from the purpose, foreign to the purpose, beside the purpose, beside the question, beside the transaction, beside the point, misplaced, traveling out of the record, remote, far-fetched, out of the way, forced, neither here nor there, quite another thing, detached, segregate, disquiparant, multifarious, discordant, incidental, parenthetical, obiter dicta, episodic, parenthetically, by the way, by the by, en passant, incidentally, irrespectively, without reference to, without regard to, in the abstract, a se.