as in deliberate
made, given, or done with full awareness of what one is doing
facial tics and other unconscious movements that one would not normally call purposive actions
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Recent Examples of purposive
Strengthening transcendence, with its associated behaviors of being purposive, inspired, optimistic, creative, and future-oriented, helps to broaden your perspective and see beyond the immediate challenges.
—
Mary Crossan, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
For Defoe, meaning is purposive and theological, purposive because theological.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022
Sporadic outbursts of feeling are converted into purposive and unremitting activity.
—Aldous Huxley, Harper's Magazine, 17 Aug. 2021
In this sense, history is not only rational but also providential: designed, purposive, teleological.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 25 May 2020
Mary Crossan, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
For Defoe, meaning is purposive and theological, purposive because theological.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022
Sporadic outbursts of feeling are converted into purposive and unremitting activity.
—Aldous Huxley, Harper's Magazine, 17 Aug. 2021
In this sense, history is not only rational but also providential: designed, purposive, teleological.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 25 May 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposive
Adjective
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This deliberate approach matters because many organizations struggle with performative values.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
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There are also deliberate cuts that have been vowed at Columbia and UPenn, two universities that get federal funding and do health research.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The average airline passenger likely isn’t very conscious of an airline’s design, although many could probably pick out Spirit Airlines’ bright yellow planes, or the animal tails of Frontier, or the globe of United, or American’s eagle.—
Zach Wichter,
USA TODAY,
19 Mar. 2025
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Your subconscious mind processes thousands of data points your conscious mind doesn't register.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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While there has even been some talk of a military invasion, there are other ways America could gain control of the Arctic territory, such as free association, which is the ability to maintain self-government along with a voluntary and mutual partnership with a sovereign state.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Mar. 2025
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The voluntary program allows people who have two years or less of their sentence remaining to serve the rest of their time in a center that offers help with reentering the community.—
Alene Tchekmedyian,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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To be truly intentional in your healing process, focus on understanding, not winning or being right.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
22 Mar. 2025
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Bean also faces a charge of injury to a child with intentional bodily injury.—
Lina Ruiz,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In this process, admissions officers consider the overall class profile, including incoming students’ interests, backgrounds, institutional connections, and intended majors, and admit a balanced class of diverse students.—
Christopher Rim,
Forbes.com,
27 Mar. 2025
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City leaders said her store is not an intended target of the ordinance.—
Jesse Wright,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The entire texture of that life, its willed imposture.—
Joyce Carol Oates,
The New Yorker,
16 Mar. 2025
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Even more than his strong, octave-surfing Ontario accent, his willed congeniality—a mix of natural reserve and a morbid aversion to pretense—spoke to something in my bones.—
Michelle Orange,
Harper's Magazine,
14 Dec. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Purposive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposive. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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