purpose
Reason for doing
Purpose shares meaning with other frequent nouns, such as reason, aim, and goal: What is the purpose of your visit?
If you do something with a sense of purpose, you do it with determination and a clear goal in mind.
If you do something on purpose, you do it with awareness; this is often contrasted with accidentally: I assured him that I hadn’t taken his parking space on purpose.
Purpose is often used in the plural: Computers are used for many instructional purposes in the classroom.
Purpose or goal
- aimPurpose or direction
- targetObject of pursuit
- outcomeFinal result of events
- resultWhat follows a cause
mission · vision · ambition · achievement · benchmark · milestone · endgame · priority
Position or part
- usePut into service
- utilityFunctional worth or purpose
- taskWork to be done
- applicationFormal request document
operation · design · mechanism · capacity · service · point · practicality · usefulness
Quality of mattering
- existenceState of being real
- reasonBasis or justification
- essenceFundamental nature of something
- philosophyStudy of fundamental truths
why · meaning · understanding · fulfillment · truth · life · identity · destiny
Operate a vehicle
- passionIntense emotional drive
- commitmentFirm pledge to act
- dedicationWholehearted loyalty to purpose
- determinationFirmness of purpose
resolve · perseverance · tenacity · zeal · enthusiasm · energy · initiative · gumption
Device showing cardinal directions
- guidanceAdvice for decisions
- trajectoryPath of moving object
- coursePlanned path forward
- pathwayDesignated route for travel
bearing · north star · orientation · roadmap · navigation · focus · clarity · alignment
Consciously chosen, not accidental
- intentionalDone on purpose
- premeditatedPlanned before acting
- calculatedFigured out mathematically
- plannedDecided on beforehand
conscious · willful · motivated · strategic · tactical · by design · aimed · targeted
objective
Purpose or goal
result · mission · vision · ambition · achievement · benchmark · milestone · endgame · priority · agenda
role
Position or part
application · operation · design · mechanism · capacity · service · point · practicality · usefulness · functionality
significance
Quality of mattering
philosophy · why · meaning · understanding · fulfillment · truth · life · identity · destiny · enlightenment
drive
Operate a vehicle
- passionIntense emotional drive
- commitmentFirm pledge to act
- dedicationWholehearted loyalty to purpose
determination · resolve · perseverance · tenacity · zeal · enthusiasm · energy · initiative · gumption · fire
compass
Device showing cardinal directions
- guidanceAdvice for decisions
- trajectoryPath of moving object
- coursePlanned path forward
pathway · bearing · north star · orientation · roadmap · navigation · focus · clarity · alignment · heading
deliberate
Consciously chosen, not accidental
- intentionalDone on purpose
- premeditatedPlanned before acting
- calculatedFigured out mathematically
planned · conscious · willful · motivated · strategic · tactical · by design · aimed · targeted · willed
- biographybirth, death date, autobiography, life story, biography
- strategystrategy, grand strategy, tactics, tactic, tactical
- aspirationsdream, goals, dreams, mission, ambition
- curiosityinquisitiveness, wonder, questioning, inquiry, interest
- human conceptsconsciousness, awareness, identity, self, emotion
- importanceimportance, significance, consequence, weight, gravity
purposeaccident
Unintended harmful event
chance · randomness · coincidence · happenstance · spontaneity
purposemeaninglessness
Lack of significance
pointlessness · purposelessness · futility · emptiness · absurdity
purposeaimlessness
Lack of direction
directionlessness · wandering · drifting · randomness · disorientation
- on purposeDone with deliberate intent
- defeat the purposeNegate intended outcome
- for all intents and purposesVirtually, in practice
- all-purpose flourGeneral-use milled wheat
- cross purposesMutually contradictory goals
- accidentally on purposeIntentionally feigning accident
purposeful, purposely, purport, purposes, purposeless, purposed, purposefully, purposefulness, multipurpose