Plan vs Purpose - What's the difference?
plan | purpose | Synonyms |
A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.
A set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal.
A two-dimensional drawing of a building as seen from above with obscuring or irrelevant details such as roof removed, or of a floor of a building, revealing the internal layout; as distinct from the elevation.
A method; a way of procedure; a custom.
* Wordsworth
To design (a building, machine, etc.).
To create a plan for.
To intend.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= See plan on.
To make a plan.
An object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= A result that is desired; an intention.
The act of intending to do something; resolution; determination.
* 2013 , Phil McNulty, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23830980]", BBC Sport , 1 September 2013:
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way.
(obsolete) Instance; example.
Have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
* Macaulay
(passive ) Designed for some purpose.
(obsolete) To have a purpose or intention; to discourse.
Purpose is a synonym of plan.
In transitive terms the difference between plan and purpose
is that plan is to create a plan for while purpose is (passive) Designed for some purpose.As a proper noun PLAN
is the People's Liberation Army Navy.plan
English
Noun
(en noun)- The plans for many important buildings were once publicly available.
- He didn't really have a plan ; he had a goal and a habit of control.
- Seen in plan , the building had numerous passageways not apparent to visitors.
- The simple plan , / That they should take who have the power, / And they should keep who can.
Usage notes
* A plan ("set of intended actions") can be developed, executed, implemented, ignored, abandoned, scrapped, changed, etc.Synonyms
* (drawing of a building from above): floor planDerived terms
* battleplan * floor plan * business plan * development plan * marketing plan * masterplan * game plan * contingency plan * action plan * escalation plan * lesson plan * plan A * plan B * price plan * rate planVerb
(plann)Can China clean up fast enough?, passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeDerived terms
* planner * plan on * plan outStatistics
*External links
* * English control verbs ----purpose
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=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.}}
- United began with more purpose in the early phase of the second half and Liverpool were grateful for Glen Johnson's crucial block from Young's goalbound shot.
Sarah Glaz
Ode to Prime Numbers, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
- (Spenser)
- The purpose of turning off the lights overnight is to save energy.
Synonyms
* (target ): aim, goal, object, target * (intention ): aim, plan, intention * (determination ): determination, intention, resolution * (subject of discourse ): matter, subject, topic * (reason for doing something ): reason * See alsoDerived terms
(terms derived from purpose) * all-purpose * common purpose * cross-purpose * fit for purpose * for all intents and purposes * game with a purpose * general-purpose * infinitive of purpose * multi-purpose * metapurpose * purpose-built * purposeful * purposeless * purpose-like * purpose loan * purposely * purpose statement * on purposeEtymology 2
From (etyl)Verb
(purpos)- I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.
- (Spenser)