intention

English Online Dictionary. What means intention‎? What does intention mean?

English

Alternative forms

• entention (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English entencioun, intention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentiō, intentiōnem. Compare intent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛnʃən/
• Hyphenation: in‧ten‧tion
• Rhymes: -ɛnʃən
• Homophone: intension

Noun

intention (countable and uncountable, plural intentions)

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intention

   • a. 1784, attributed to Samuel Johnson

     Hell is paved with good intentions.
2. The goal or purpose.
3. (obsolete) Tension; straining, stretching.
   • , 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 an object or a purpose (an intent); closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.
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.
7. (medicine) The process of the healing of a wound.

Derived terms

Related terms

• intend
• intent
• well-intended

Translations

Verb

intention (third-person singular simple present intentions, present participle intentioning, simple past and past participle intentioned)

1. To intend.

Translations

References

• “intention”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “intention”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Finnish

Noun

intention

1. genitive singular of intentio

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French entention, from Old French entencion, borrowed from Latin intentiōnem. Respelled intention in Middle French to more closely match the Classical Latin form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. intention

Derived terms

Further reading

• “intention”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. Alternative form of entention

Swedish

Noun

intention c

1. (often in the plural) an intention (planned course of action)

Declension

See also

• avsikt (more idiomatic for "it was not my intention" and the like)

References

• intention in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• intention in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• intention in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)