different between purpose vs nebulously

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?p?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??p?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)p?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English purpos, from Old French purposer (“to propose”), from Latin pr? (“forth”) + pono, hence Latin propono, proponere, with conjugation altered based on poser.

Noun

purpose (countable and uncountable, plural purposes)

1. An objective to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.
2. A result that is desired; an intention.
3. The act of intending to do something; resolution; determination.
   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "[2]", 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.
4. The subject of discourse; the point at issue.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

5. The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way.

6. (obsolete) Instance; example.

Synonyms

• (target): aim, goal, object, target; See also Thesaurus:goal
• (intention): aim, plan, intention; See also Thesaurus:intention
• (determination): determination, intention, resolution
• (subject of discourse): matter, subject, topic
• (reason for doing something): reason

Hyponyms

• common purpose
• metapurpose

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English purposen, from Old French purposer (“to propose”).

Verb

purpose (third-person singular simple present purposes, present participle purposing, simple past and past participle purposed)

1. (transitive) To have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
2. (transitive, passive) To design for some purpose. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To discourse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

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

Translations

References

• “purpose” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “purpose”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ?ISBN
• "purpose" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

English

Etymology

nebulous +? -ly

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?n?b.j?.l?s.li/

Adverb

nebulously (comparative more nebulously, superlative most nebulously)

1. In a manner like that of a cloud or haze.

   The vapour drifted nebulously into the hall.

2. As if viewed through a cloud or haze.
3. Vaguely, without clear purpose or specific intention.

   He waved his hand nebulously in the direction he intended to go.

Quotations

• 1866 - Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War

  The bladed guns are gleaming—
      Drift in lengthened trim,
  Files on files for hazy miles—
      Nebulously dim.

• 1905 - Jack London, The Game, chapter IV

  And there he stood, all but naked, godlike, in a white blaze of light. She had never conceived of the form of God except as nebulously naked, and the thought-association was startling.

• 1920 - Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, chapter XVI, section 2

  Mysteriously aching, nebulously sad, she slipped away, half-convinced but only half-convinced that it was horrible and unnatural, this postponement of release of mother-affection, this sacrifice to her opinionation and to his cautious desire for prosperity.

• 1928 - H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

  For an instant the ship was befouled by an acrid and blinding green cloud, and then there was only a venomous seething astern; where - God in heaven! - the scattered plasticity of that nameless sky-spawn was nebulously recombining in its hateful original form, whilst its distance widened every second as the Alert gained impetus from its mounting steam.

• 1931 - H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6

  Archaic covered bridges lingered fearsomely out of the past in pockets of the hills, and the half-abandoned railway track paralleling the river seemed to exhale a nebulously visible air of desolation.

Related terms

• nebulosity
• nebulous
• nebulousness

Translations