aim

Pluralaims

Formsaims, aiming, aimed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An intention or goal; the result that a person, plan, or effort is meant to achieve.

   The charity's aim is to provide clean water to remote villages.

   She pursued her aims with a single-mindedness that impressed everyone around her.

   Similarpurpose, goal, design, scheme

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To direct one's intention or efforts toward a purpose; to try to accomplish or attain something.

   Both governments aim to sign the treaty by the end of the year.

   She aimed at perfection in every piece she composed.

   Similarintend, strive, seek, aspire, plan

   Note

   Two constructions carry it: aim at with a noun (aim at a pass) and aim to with a verb (aim to do well in life). The infinitive suits stated purposes, as when The Economist in 2013 says a book aims to help data-phobes. The passive works too: The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) speaks of the people at whom moral stories were aimed.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To direct or point something, such as a weapon, a blow, or a measure, at a particular object or target.

   Regulators aim the new rules at banks that take excessive risks.

   He aimed the rifle at the tin can on the fence post.

   Similarpoint, direct, level, train

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To point a weapon that launches a projectile toward an object or spot, with the intent of hitting it.

   The hunter aimed at the buck and waited for a clear shot.

   Soldiers learn to aim while controlling their breathing.

   Note

   The intransitive use, where the weapon goes unnamed: you simply aim at the target. Once the weapon becomes the object, as in aimed the gun at him, the verb has moved into the transitive "point at" sense. Either way, at marks what is to be hit. Behind both sits Middle English aimen, "to guess at, to estimate," from Latin aestimare, still alive in the "guess" meaning: aiming began as reckoning.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The pointing of a weapon or other object along the line of its intended target; also, the direction given to anything, such as a blow or a remark, toward a particular object.

   The sniper steadied his aim against the gusting wind.

   A slight tilt of the dartboard threw everyone's aim off.

   Note

   Its fixed phrase is take aim, the moment of lining up before the shot, and there aim needs no article. The direction can be given to a blow or a remark as well as a weapon. Grunkle Stan's joke in Gravity Falls (2012), "her aim is getting better," works because it slides from the act of pointing to the skill of hitting.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The point a person intends to hit, or the object they intend to attain or affect.

   His aim was the gap between the two defenders, and the pass found it.

   The knot in the oak was her aim, and the hatchet struck just beside it.

   Similartarget, mark

7. 7
   noununcountable

   A person's ability to point or throw accurately; one's skill at hitting a physical target.

   Years of darts had given him deadly aim.

   The goalkeeper's save owed less to luck than to the striker's poor aim.

   Similaraccuracy, marksmanship

   Note

   Both patterns are natural: someone has excellent aim, with no article, or has a bad aim, with one. The bare form treats the skill as a quality, much like good timing or good balance. Either way, the word here describes the shooter rather than any single shot.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To direct a remark, criticism, or other verbal expression toward a particular person, thing, or group.

   She aimed her sharpest criticism at the board's secrecy.

   Late-night hosts aim their best jokes at whoever holds power.

   Similardirect, level, target

9. 9
   nouninitialism

   Initialism of AOL Instant Messenger.

   College students in 2003 left AIM running all day in their dorm rooms.

   He set a song lyric as his AIM away message.

   Note

   A separate word that only shares the spelling: an initialism for a messaging service, unrelated to the Latin-derived aim and written in capitals to keep the two apart. In running text the capitals are the main clue, so a sentence like "he left AIM running" means the program, never a goal.

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