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What is the difference between purpose and end?

purpose | end |

End is a synonym of purpose.



As nouns the difference between purpose and end

is that purpose is an object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal while end is the final point of something in space or time.

As verbs the difference between purpose and end

is that purpose is have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan while end is to finish, terminate.

purpose

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘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.}}
  • 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:
    • 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
    • , title= 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.}}
  • The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
    • (Spenser)
  • The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way.
    • The purpose of turning off the lights overnight is to save energy.
  • (obsolete) Instance; example.
    • (rfquotek, L'Estrange)
    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 also
    Derived 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 purpose

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    (purpos)
  • Have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
  • * Macaulay
    • 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.
  • (passive ) Designed for some purpose.
  • (obsolete) To have a purpose or intention; to discourse.
    • (Spenser)
    Derived terms
    * purposed * purposer * purposive * on purpose
    Synonyms
    * (have set as one's purpose ): aim, intend, mean, plan, set out * (designed for some purpose ): intended

    References

    * * *

    Statistics

    *

    end

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rfc-sense) The final point of something in space or time.
  • * 1908: (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
    • they followed him... into a sort of a central hall; out of which they could dimly see other long tunnel-like passages branching, passages mysterious and without apparent end .
  • * , chapter=4
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
  • The cessation of an effort, activity, state, or motion.
    • Is there no end to this madness?
  • Death, especially miserable.
    • He met a terrible end in the jungle.
    I hope the end comes quickly.
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
    • Confound your hidden falsehood, and award / Either of you to be the other's end .
  • * (rfdate) Alexander Pope
    • unblamed through life, lamented in thy end
  • Result.
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
    • O that a man might know / The end of this day's business ere it come!
  • A purpose, goal, or aim.
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
    • Losing her, the end of living lose.
  • * (rfdate) Coleridge
    • When every man is his own end , all things will come to a bad end.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.21:
    • There is a long argument to prove that foreign conquest is not the end of the State, showing that many people took the imperialist view.
  • (cricket) One of the two parts of the ground used as a descriptive name for half of the ground.
  • (American football) The position at the end of either the offensive or defensive line, a tight end, a split end, a defensive end.
  • * 1926 , , (The Great Gatsby) , Penguin 2000, p. 11:
    • Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven [...].
  • (curling) A period of play in which each team throws eight rocks, two per player, in alternating fashion.
  • (mathematics) An ideal point of a graph or other complex.
  • That which is left; a remnant; a fragment; a scrap.
    • odds and ends
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
    • I clothe my naked villainy / With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ, / And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
  • One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet.

    • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "end": final, ultimate, deep, happy, etc.

    Synonyms

    * (final point in space or time) conclusion, limit, terminus, termination * See also

    Antonyms

    * (final point of something) beginning, start

    Derived terms

    * at the end of the day * big end * bitter end * dead-end * East End * -ended * endless * endlike * endly * End of Days * end of the line * end of the road * endpaper * end piece, endpiece * end product * endsay * end times * end-to-end * endward * endways, endwise * high-end * know which end is up * living end * loose end * low-end * make ends meet * off the deep end * on end * rear end * short end of the stick * split end * The End * tight end * to this end * up-end * West End * week-end, weekend * without end

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ergative) To finish, terminate.
  • * Bible, (w) ii. 2
    • On the seventh day God ended his work.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • I shall end this strife.
  • * 1896 , , (A Shropshire Lad), XLV, lines 7-8:
    • But play the man, stand up and end you
    When your sickness is your soul.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-11-09, volume=409, issue=8861, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= How to stop the fighting, sometimes , passage=Ending civil wars is hard. Hatreds within countries often run far deeper than between them. The fighting rarely sticks to battlefields, as it can do between states. Civilians are rarely spared. And there are no borders to fall back behind.}}

    Derived terms

    * ending * end up * never-ending * unending

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 200 English basic words English ergative verbs 1000 English basic words ----