destination
Pluraldestinations
- 1The place set as the end of a journey, or the point to which something is sent or aimed.
After twelve hours of driving, they finally arrived at their destination.
Each parcel is scanned at every stop until it reaches its destination.
Similargoal, target, terminus, endpoint
Note
Behind the travel word sits Latin dēstinātiō, from dēstinō, "to destine". At root, a destination is the place a journey or a parcel has been destined for. That idea of an end fixed in advance also survives in the "purpose" meaning. In ordinary use the noun pairs naturally with arrive at, and it can name a town, an address, or simply a point aimed at.
- 2
- 3The act of destining or appointing something or someone to a particular role or purpose.
The king's destination of his second son to the priesthood surprised the court.
Her destination to the convent was arranged before she could object.
Note
Here the noun names an act, not a place: the deliberate assigning of someone or something to a fixed role or end. It is the noun of the verb destine, used as that verb's action. The sense is archaic, and a modern reader will almost certainly hear the travel sense first. Outside writing that deliberately echoes an older style, it invites misreading.
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Origin
From Latin dēstinātiō, which comes from dēstinō, meaning "to destine."