intention

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• entention (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛnʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology

From Middle French intention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentio.

Noun

intention (plural intentions)

1. A course of action that a person intends to follow.

   My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.

   • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) (but see Apocryhpha)

     Hell is paved with good intentions.

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, Death on the Centre Court:

     It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, 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. You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.”

2. The goal or purpose behind a specific action or set of actions.

   The intention of this legislation is to boost the economy.

3. (obsolete) Tension; straining, stretching.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.iii.3:

     cold in those inner parts, cold belly, and hot liver, causeth crudity, and intention proceeds from perturbations […] .

4. A stretching or bending of the mind toward of the mind toward an object; closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.
   • John Locke (1632-1705)

     Intention is when the mind, with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea.

5. (obsolete) The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim.
   • 1732, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Ailments …, Prop. II, p.159

     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; […] .

6. (obsolete) Any mental apprehension of an object.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Derived terms

• intentional
• the road to hell is paved with good intentions
• well-intentioned

Related terms

• intend
• intent
• well-intended

Translations

course intended to follow

• Arabic: قَصْد m (qaSd)
• Bashkir: ниәт (niät)
• Basque: asmo
• Catalan: intenció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意向 (zh) (yìxiàng), 意圖, 意图 (zh) (yìtú)

• Czech: úmysl m, záměr (cs) m
• Dutch: voornemen (nl) n, opzet (nl) n
• Esperanto: intenco
• Faroese: ætlan f, ætling f, ættingur m
• Finnish: aie (fi)
• French: intention (fr) f
• German: Absicht (de) f
• Greek: πρόθεση (el) f (próthesi)
• Hebrew: כַּווָּנָה f (kavaná)
• Hindi: इरादा m (irādā)
• Hungarian: szándék (hu)

• Indonesian: niat (id)
• Italian: intenzione (it) f
• Japanese: 意図 (ja) (いと, ito)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: مه‌به‌س (mabas), نیاز (niyAz)

• Persian: قصد (fa) , منظور (fa)
• Polish: intencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: intenção (pt) f
• Romanian: intenție (ro) f
• Russian: намерение (ru) n (namérenije), замысел (ru) m (zámysel)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùn m, dùil f
• Spanish: intención (es) f
• Swahili: nia (sw), azma (sw), gharadhi (sw)
• Swedish: avsikt (sv) c, syfte (sv)
• Urdu: ارادہ m (irādā)

the goal or purpose behind a specific action

• Bashkir: ниәт (niät)
• Dutch: bedoeling (nl) f

• Spanish: intención (es) f

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Finnish

Noun

intention

1. Genitive singular form of intentio.

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French

Etymology

Old French entencion < Latin intentiō. Respelled intention in Middle French to more closely match the Classical Latin form.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. intention

   dans l'intention de devenir roi

   with the intention of becoming king

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Middle French

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. Alternative form of entention.