• Intend

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /ɪnˈtÉ›nd/
    • Rhymes: -É›nd

    Origin

    From Middle English entend, “direct (one’s) attention towards”, from Old French entendre, from Latin intendere.

    Full definition of intend

    Verb

    1. To fix the mind upon (something to be accomplished); be intent upon; mean; design; plan; purpose.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
      • 1935, George Goodchild, Death on the Centre Court Chapter 1, She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.
      • 2013-06-07, Ed Pilkington, ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, In his submission to the UN, Christof Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
    2. To fix the mind on; attend to; take care of; superintend; regard.
    3. (obsolete) To stretch to extend; distend.
    4. To strain; make tense.
    5. (obsolete) To intensify; strengthen.
      • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Book I, New York 2001, p. 139:Dotage, fatuity, or folly...is for the most part intended or remitted in particular men, and thereupon some are wiser than others ....
    6. To apply with energy.
    7. To bend or turn; direct, as one’s course or journey.
    8. To design mechanically or artistically; fashion; mold.
    9. To pretend; counterfeit; simulate.

    Usage notes

    This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See

    Synonyms

    Related terms

    © Wiktionary