intention

intention, intent, purpose, design, aim, end, object, objective, goal are comparable when meaning what one proposes to accomplish or to attain by doing or making something, in distinction from what prompts one (the motive), or from the activity itself (the means), or from the actual or envisioned outcome (the effect). The first four of these words stress the clearly defined will to do or make something.

Intention, however, often denotes little more than what one has in mind to do or to bring about

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she had not had an intention or a thought of going home— Dickens

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she had divined the intention behind her mother's tolerance— Joyce

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announced its intention to divide its Indian Empire into two dominions— Current Biog.

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Intent suggests clearer formulation and greater deliberateness than intention

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they become enamored of official declarations of intent, though not much is said about the machinery to translate intent into action— Cousins

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behind my look you saw such unmistakable intent— Millay

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Purpose implies more settled determination or more resolution than intention

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have a purpose in life

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the missionary was here for a purpose, and he pressed his point— Cather

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there lie youth and irresolution: here manhood and purpose— Meredith

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Design carries further the notion of deliberateness and purposiveness in formulating an intention; in this sense it is not always clearly distinguishable from design denoting plan (see under PLAN n) for it retains the implications of careful ordering of details, of calculation, and sometimes of scheming

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a great man by accident rather than design— Laski

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I had suspected him of harboring . . . sinister designs— Hudson

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the United States has no ulterior designs against any of its neighbors— Vandenberg

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Aim implies a clear definition of something that one hopes to effect and a direction of one's efforts or energies to its attainment; thus, one who proposes to make the best of his powers and of his opportunities may be said to have a purpose in life: one who has clearly defined the mark he hopes to reach and determines his actions by it may be said to have an aim in life

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her steadiness and courage in the pursuit of her aims—J. R. Green

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the aim of the Elizabethans was to attain complete realism— T. S. Eliot

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The remaining words of this group, like aim, imply that what one does is affected by what one hopes to accomplish or attain.

End in this relation retains some of the suggestion of remoteness and finality inherent in some of its other senses (see LIMIT, END 2) and therefore is appropriately applied to an aim or purpose which takes its nature from principle or logical necessity and of which the attainment requires a definite and planned course of action leading to the modification of existent reality

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holding that the good of the end justified all the evil of the means

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the relation between means and ends is clearly bound up with a temporal view. Ends are in the future, means in the present. We do control means, we do not control ends. Hence the foolishness of conceiving ends apart from means. On the contrary, ends must be judged, and evaluated, in the light of the means available for their attainment— Visalberghi

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provide the safeguard we need against the abuse of mankind's scientific genius for destructive ends— Dean

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the end of law was to bring about the widest possible abstract indi-vidual liberty— Roscoe Pound

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it is commonly said and commonly believed that science is completely neutral and indifferent as to the ends and values which move men to act: that at most it only provides more efficient means for realization of ends that are and must be due to wants and desires completely independent of science— Dewey

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Object and objective apply to an end as being that toward which effort or action or emotion (as hope) is directed

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the object is to gather data that can be taken only during a total solar blackout— Cow en

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one of the important objectives of public education has been and will always be to inspire in youth a deep appreciation of the basic spiritual and religious values which give meaning to existence— Current Biog.

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Distinctively, object may suggest an end based on more individually determined desires, needs, or intentions

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Colonel Belgrave, who is bent on abducting Amanda . . . pursues his object with a pertinacity and ingenuity that does credit to his understanding— C rot hers

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the object of a legislator, he declares, is to make not a great but a happy city— Dickinson

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we call a man cruel who takes pleasure in the suffering of others and inflicts it with that object— Belloc

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while objective may suggest one which is concrete and immediately attainable or at least one which involves no obviously insurmountable problems

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the objectives of the Guild are to promote and advance the spiritual, social, educational and recreational welfare of the blind persons in the Diocese— Hamrah

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Colum-bia included among its earliest stated objectives the instruction of youth in surveying, navigation, husbandry, commerce, government, and manufacture— Eurich

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Goal often evokes the image of one running a race; usually it implies struggle and endurance of hardships and cessation of effort at attainment

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the Good, which is the goal of all moral endeavor— Inge

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in the average man's mind leisure is ... a goal to strive for— Furnas

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equality is, of course, a goal or ideal rather than an immediately attainable objective— Gallagher

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Analogous words: *plan, design, scheme, project: desiring or desire, wishing or wish (see corresponding verbs at DESIRE)