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Intention vs Outcome - What's the difference?

intention | outcome |

As nouns the difference between intention and outcome

is that intention is a course of action that a person intends to follow while outcome is information, event, object or state of being produced as a result or consequence of a plan, process, accident, effort or other similar action or occurrence.

intention

Alternative forms

* entention (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A course of action that a person intends to follow.
  • :
  • *(Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784) (but see Apocryhpha )
  • *: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.”
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=3 , passage=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.
  • The goal or purpose behind a specific action or set of actions.
  • :
  • (lb) Tension; straining, stretching.
  • *, I.iii.3:
  • *:cold in those inner parts, cold belly, and hot liver, causeth crudity, and intention proceeds from perturbations […].
  • 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.
  • (lb) 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;.
  • (lb) Any mental apprehension of an object.
  • (lb) The process of the healing of a wound.
  • *2007 , Carie Ann Braun, ?Cindy Miller Anderson, Pathophysiology: Functional Alterations in Human Health , p.49:
  • *:When healing occurs by primary intention , the wound is basically closed with all areas of the wound connecting and healing simultaneously.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Derived terms

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

    outcome

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Information, event, object or state of being produced as a result or consequence of a plan, process, accident, effort or other similar action or occurrence.
  • A quality automobile is the outcome of the work of skilled engineers and thousands of workers.
  • A positive result or consequence.
  • (probability theory) The result of a random trial. An element of a sample space.
  • Three is a possible outcome of tossing a six-sided die.
  • (education) The results or evidence of students' learning experience. Often used in place of desired outcomes .
  • The outcomes of this course are outlined in your syllabus.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Spain failed to move through the gears despite exerting control for lengthy spells and a measure of perspective must be applied immediately to the outcome .}}

    Anagrams

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