intention
verbEtymology From Middle English entencioun, intention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentiō, intentiōnem. Compare intent. Equivalent to intent + -ion.
1
To intend.
intention
noun/ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/
Etymology From Middle English entencioun, intention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentiō, intentiōnem. Compare intent. Equivalent to intent + -ion.
7 senses
- 1A course of action that a person intends to follow.
- 2The goal or purpose.
- 3Tension; straining, stretching.
- 4A stretching or bending of the mind toward an object or…
- 5The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim.
- 6Any mental apprehension of an object.
- 7The process of the healing of a wound.
1
A course of action that a person intends to follow.
- My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.
- It’s easy to promise anything when you have no intention of fulfilling any of it.
3 more examples
- a. 1784, attributed to Samuel Johnson Hell is paved with good intentions.
- “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me.[…]”1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
2
The goal or purpose.
- The intention of this legislation is to boost the economy.
- Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x:
3
Obsolete Tension; straining, stretching.
- cold in those inner parts, cold belly, and hot liver, causeth crudity, and intention proceeds from perturbations […]., I.iii.3
4
Obsolete A stretching or bending of the mind toward an object or a purpose (an intent); closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.
- it is attention: when the mind with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on all sides, and will not be called off by the ordinary solicitation of other ideas, it is that we call intention or study1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 19:
5
Obsolete The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim.
- In a Word, the most part of chronical Distempers proceed from Laxity of Fibres; in which Case the principal Intention is to restore the Tone of the solid Parts; […].1732, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Ailments …, Prop. II, p.159
6
Obsolete Any mental apprehension of an object.
7
Medicine, Sciences The process of the healing of a wound.
- When healing occurs by primary intention, the wound is basically closed with all areas of the wound connecting and healing simultaneously.2007, Carie Ann Braun, Cindy Miller Anderson, Pathophysiology: Functional Alterations in Human Health, page 49:
- Antonyms
- chance
- Derived terms
- counter-intention, intentional, intentionless, misintention, nonintention, paradoxical intention, secondary intention, subintention, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, well-intentioned
- Related terms
- intend, intent, well-intended, purpose, desire