Purpose vs Drift - What's the difference?
purpose | drift | Related terms |
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.
(label) Movement; that which moves or is moved.
# (label) A driving; a violent movement.
#* 1332 , (King Alisaunder) (1332)
# Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
#* (Richard Hakluyt) (c.1552-1616)
# That which is driven, forced, or urged along.
#*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title= # Anything driven at random.
#* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
# A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
#* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#* Kane
# The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
# A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
#* (Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
# A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
#* 1867 , E. Andrews, "Observations on the Glacial Drift beneath the bed of Lake Michigan," American Journal of Science and Arts? , vol. 43, nos. 127-129,
# Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
* (Robert South) (1634–1716)
A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
* 1977 , (w), (The Canterbury Tales) , Penguin Classics, p. 316:
* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
* Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
(architecture) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
(label) A tool.
# A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.
# A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
(label) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
(label) Movement.
# The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
# The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
# The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.
# The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
# The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.
(label) A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
(label) To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
*, chapter=11
, title= (label) To move haphazardly without any destination.
(label) To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 15, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC
, title= (label) To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
(label) To drive into heaps.
(label) To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
To make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.
To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See .
Purpose is a related term of drift.
As verbs the difference between purpose and drift
is that purpose is have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan while drift is drifting.As a noun purpose
is an object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.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)
Derived terms
* purposed * purposer * purposive * on purposeSynonyms
* (have set as one's purpose ): aim, intend, mean, plan, set out * (designed for some purpose ): intendedReferences
* * *Statistics
*drift
English
Noun
(en noun)- The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.
- Our drift was south.
The Lonely Pyramid, passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
- Some loga useless drift .
- Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
- We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].
- cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drift doing much damage to the high ways)
page 75:
- It is there seen that at a distance from the valleys of streams, the old glacial drift usually comes to the surface, and often rises into considerable eminences.
- A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.
- 'Besides, you lack the brains to catch my drift . / If I explained you wouldn't understand.'
- He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general.
- Now thou knowest my drift .
- (Knight)
Derived terms
* driftage * driftal * drift-anchor * drift-bolt * drift-current * drift ice * driftland * driftless * drift-mining * drift-net * drift-sail * driftway * driftweed * driftwood * driftyVerb
(en verb)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions.}}
Man City 4-3 Wolves, passage=Midway through the half, Argentine Tevez did begin to drift inside in order to exert his influence but by this stage Mick McCarthy's side had gone 1-0 up and looked comfortable.}}