intention

(ĭn-tĕn'shən)
n.

1. A course of action that one intends to follow.
2. 1. An aim that guides action; an objective.
   2. intentions Purpose with respect to marriage: honorable intentions.
3. Medicine. The process by which or the manner in which a wound heals.
4. Archaic. Import; meaning.

[Middle English entencioun, from Old French intention, from Latin intentiō, intentiōn-, from intentus, intent, from past participle of intendere, to direct attention. See intend.]

SYNONYMS   intention, intent, purpose, goal, end, aim, object, objective. These nouns refer to what one plans to do or achieve. Intention simply signifies a course of action that one proposes to follow: It is my intention to take a vacation next month. Intent more strongly implies deliberateness: The executor complied with the testator's intent. Purpose strengthens the idea of resolution or determination: "His purpose was to discover how long these guests intended to stay" (Joseph Conrad). Goal may suggest an idealistic or long-term purpose: The college's goal was to raise ten million dollars for a new library. End suggests a long-range goal: The candidate wanted to win and pursued every means to achieve that end. Aim stresses the direction one's efforts take in pursuit of an end: The aim of most students is to graduate. An object is an end that one tries to carry out: The object of chess is to capture your opponent's king. Objective often implies that the end or goal can be reached: The report outlines the committee's objectives.

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is followed either by of + verbal noun or by a to-infinitive, the first of these being somewhat more common and the second influenced by the verb intend:

I have no intention—no present intention—of standing for Parliament—Harold Macmillan, 1979

He went to Cambridge to read Natural Science, with the intention of becoming a geologist—H. Carpenter, 1981

He has given notice of his intention to turn up this evening—Kingsley Amis, 1980

It was never the intention to start the second battle of Maldon—Essex Chronicle, 2004.

Previous:	intensifier, intense, intensive, intend
Next:	inter alia, inter, intern, inter-, intra-

For more information on intention, visit Britannica.com.

noun

What one intends to do or achieve: aim, ambition, design, end, goal, intent, mark, meaning, object, objective, point, purpose, target, view, why. Idioms: end in view, why and wherefore. See planned/unplanned, purpose/purposelessness.

To have an intention is to be in a state of mind that is favourably directed towards bringing about (or maintaining, or avoiding) some state of affairs, but which is not a mere desire or wish, since it also sets the subject on a course to bring that state of affairs about. The notion thus inherits all the problems of intentionality. The specific problems it raises include characterizing the difference between doing something accidentally and doing it intentionally. The suggestion that the difference lies in a preceding act of mind or volition is not very happy, since one may automatically do what is nevertheless intentional, for example putting one's foot forward while walking. Conversely, unless the formation of a volition is intentional, and thus raises the same questions, the presence of a volition might be unintentional or beyond one's control. Intentions are more finely grained than movements: one set of movements may both be answering the question and starting a war, yet the one may be intentional and the other not.

Intention — deliberate, purposive behaviour — is one of the most difficult concepts to understand or discuss in academic psychology, although most 'common-sense' psychological explanations are in terms of intentions. Behaviour is commonly explained by intentions (such as: 'Why did the chicken cross the road ... ?'), but just what an intention is, in terms of brain processes or anything else, is exceedingly hard to say.

Intention seems to characterize mind, for we can hardly say that natural objects (atoms, molecules, tables and chairs, or planets or stars) have intentions. They are controlled, rather, according to natural laws. The forming of an intention seems to imply free will and the ability to choose. Whether such an ability is compatible with the operation of strictly causal laws at the physical level is a matter of philosophical debate. Neurophysiological experiments show that activity in the relevant part of the motor cortex starts before the person is consciously aware of forming the intention to move. Some people take this as evidence that intentions have no causal effects, and are mere epiphenomena.

Can a machine show intention? It has been argued, for example, by the philosopher Margaret Boden (1972) that artificial intelligence machines can exhibit purpose and intention.

(Published 1987)

— Richard L. Gregory

Bibliography
• Boden, M. (1972). Purposive Explanation in Psychology.
• Dennett, D. C. (1984). Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting.
• — —  (1991). Consciousness Explained.

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(DOD) An aim or design (as distinct from capability) to execute a specified course of action.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

The mind's sense of the prevalence of one set of influences over another set; an effect whose cause is the imminence, immediate or remote, of the performance of an involuntary act.

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IN BRIEF: Purpose.

When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice. — Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), German statesman.

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Quotes:

"The greatest events occur without intention playing any part in them; chance makes good mistakes and undoes the most carefully planned undertaking. The world's greatest events are not produced, they happen." - Georg C. Lichtenberg

"What is the quality of your intent?" - Thurgood Marshall

"I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions." - Lord Byron

"No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions. He had money as well." - Margaret Thatcher

"Hell is paved with good intentions, not with bad ones. All men mean well." - George Bernard Shaw

"His designs were strictly honorable, as the phrase is; that is, to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage." - Henry Fielding

See more famous quotes about Intentions

A term used by ATC (air traffic control) to ask a pilot, “What do you plan to do?”

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A manner of healing, e.g. first intention when a surgical incision heals immediately, second intention when a gaping wound fills with granulation tissue and is then covered from the sides with epithelium. See also wound healing.

• i. tremor — tremor of the head or a limb which increases as the patient tries to perform a particular function, e.g. following a moving object by moving the head. See also intention tremor.

See words rhyming with "intention."

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - hensigt, agt, forsæt, formål, mening, vilje

idioms:

• have every intention of    have som absolut hensigt
• have no intention of    ikke have til hensigt at

Nederlands (Dutch)
bedoeling, opzet

Français (French)
n. - intention

idioms:

• have every intention of    avoir toutes les intentions de
• have no intention of    ne pas avoir l'intention de

Deutsch (German)
n. - Absicht, Intention

idioms:

• have every intention of    die feste Absicht haben
• have no intention of    nicht die Absicht haben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πρόθεση, σκοπός, επιδίωξη

idioms:

• have every intention of    έχω κάθε διάθεση να...
• have no intention of    δεν έχω πρόθεση να...

Italiano (Italian)
intenzione

idioms:

• have every intention of    essere fermamente deciso di
• have no intention of    non avere alcuna intenzione di

Português (Portuguese)
n. - intenção (f)

idioms:

• have every intention of    ter toda a intenção (f) de
• have no intention of    não ter nenhuma intenção de

Русский (Russian)
намерение

idioms:

• have every intention of    с серьезными намерениями
• have no intention of    не намереваться

Español (Spanish)
n. - intención, propósito

idioms:

• have every intention of    tengo toda la intención de
• have no intention of    no tengo ninguna intensión, no me propongo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - avsikt, tanke

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
意图, 目的, 意向, 意思, 含义, 求婚意图, 愈合

idioms:

• have every intention of    打算...
• have no intention of    无意做..., 不打算...

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 意圖, 目的, 意向, 意思, 含義, 求婚意圖, 癒合

idioms:

• have every intention of    打算...
• have no intention of    無意做..., 不打算...

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 목적, 개념, 치유

idioms:

• have every intention of    ~할 목적으로
• have no intention of    ~하려는 의사가 없다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 意図, 意志, 目的, 結婚の意志, 意味, 趣旨

idioms:

• have no intention of    気がない, のつもりがない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عزم, تصيم, قصد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כוונה, מטרה, תפיסה‬

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