purposes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of purpose.

   The committee outlined the project's purposes in the opening report.

   These funds are reserved for educational and charitable purposes.

   Note

   A regular plural, made by adding -s. It is used only where purpose is countable: a project's several aims, a fund's permitted uses. The uncountable 'resolution, determination' sense (a man of purpose) has no plural. The same spelling is also the verb form (she purposes to stay), but in for the purposes of this section or for all intents and purposes, the word is always the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of purpose.

   The board purposes to expand operations into three new regions next year.

   Whoever purposes such a journey must prepare for long delays.

   Note

   Used after he, she, it or any singular subject, it means 'intends' or 'plans'. It takes either a direct object (purposes a journey) or to plus a verb (purposes to expand). An older intransitive use meaning 'to discourse' is now obsolete, so in modern English the form always points to intention.

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