raison d'etre
Reason for existing
Raison d'être is French for "reason for being"—the fundamental purpose that justifies something's existence.
A company's raison d'être might be innovation; a nonprofit's might be ending homelessness.
The phrase often carries existential weight: Music was her raison d'être.
Without one, a person or institution may seem directionless or superfluous.
State of being real
- beingExisting as something
- essenceFundamental nature of something
- identityWho someone is
- meaning of lifeUltimate existential purpose
significance · self-actualization · fulfillment · authenticity · purpose · nihilism · existentialism · Sisyphus
What something signifies
- callingStrongly felt purpose
- missionPurpose-driven task
- vocationDedicated career path
- whyReason-seeking query
aim · goal · function · role · intent · objective · direction · focus
Formal declaration of purpose
- guiding principleRule that directs conduct
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
- charterFounding organizational document
- ethosCollective moral character
vision · manifesto · cornerstone · bedrock · foundation · north star · driving force
Operate a vehicle
- enthusiasmIntense eager enjoyment
- zealIntense driving devotion
- fervorIntense emotional intensity
- dedicationWholehearted loyalty to purpose
devotion · obsession · fire · spark · inspiration · muse · calling · love
existence
State of being real
meaning of life · significance · self-actualization · fulfillment · authenticity · purpose · nihilism · existentialism · Sisyphus · Camus
meaning
What something signifies
why · aim · goal · function · role · intent · objective · direction · focus · pursuit
mission statement
Formal declaration of purpose
- guiding principleRule that directs conduct
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
- charterFounding organizational document
ethos · vision · manifesto · cornerstone · bedrock · foundation · north star · driving force
drive
Operate a vehicle
- enthusiasmIntense eager enjoyment
- zealIntense driving devotion
- fervorIntense emotional intensity
dedication · devotion · obsession · fire · spark · inspiration · muse · calling · love · commitment
- French Loanwordsa la carte, ballet, a la mode, au revoir, bon appetit
- aspirationsdream, goals, dreams, purpose, mission
- loanwordsloanword, loan words, borrowings, borrowed words, loan word
raison d'etremeaninglessness
Lack of significance
purposelessness · pointlessness · futility · nihilism · emptiness
raison d'etretriviality
Unimportant small matter
whim · afterthought · frivolity · passing fancy · superficiality
reason, reasonable, reasonably, unreasonable, reasoning, reasoned, rationale, rational, rationality