different between appointment vs purpose

English

Etymology

From Middle French apointement (French appointement). See appoint.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p??nt.m?nt/
• (Southern American English) IPA^(key): /??p??nt.m?nt/, [??p????n?m?n?], [??p??????m?n?]

Noun

appointment (plural appointments)

1. The act of appointing a person to hold an office or to have a position of trust

2. The state of being appointed to a service or office; an office to which one is appointed

3. Stipulation; agreement; the act of fixing by mutual agreement.
4. An arrangement between people to meet; an engagement.

5. (religion) Decree; direction; established order or constitution.
6. (law) The exercise of the power of designating (under a power of appointment) a person to enjoy an estate or other specific property; also, the instrument by which the designation is made.
7. (government) The assignment of a person by an official to perform a duty, such as a presidential appointment of a judge to a court.
8. (in the plural) Equipment, furniture.
9. (US) A honorary part or exercise, as an oration, etc., at a public exhibition of a college.

10. (obsolete) The allowance paid to a public officer.

Synonyms

• command
• designation
• direction
• equipment
• establishment
• order

Antonyms

• (act of appointing): dismissal

Translations

References

• appointment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

See also

• calendar
• meeting
• schedule

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?p?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??p?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)p?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English purpos, from Old French purposer (“to propose”), from Latin pr? (“forth”) + pono, hence Latin propono, proponere, with conjugation altered based on poser.

Noun

purpose (countable and uncountable, plural purposes)

1. An objective to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.
2. A result that is desired; an intention.
3. The act of intending to do something; resolution; determination.
   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "[2]", BBC Sport, 1 September 2013:

     United began with more purpose in the early phase of the second half and Liverpool were grateful for Glen Johnson's crucial block from Young's goalbound shot.
4. The subject of discourse; the point at issue.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

5. The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way.

6. (obsolete) Instance; example.

Synonyms

• (target): aim, goal, object, target; See also Thesaurus:goal
• (intention): aim, plan, intention; See also Thesaurus:intention
• (determination): determination, intention, resolution
• (subject of discourse): matter, subject, topic
• (reason for doing something): reason

Hyponyms

• common purpose
• metapurpose

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English purposen, from Old French purposer (“to propose”).

Verb

purpose (third-person singular simple present purposes, present participle purposing, simple past and past participle purposed)

1. (transitive) To have set as one's purpose; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
2. (transitive, passive) To design for some purpose. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To discourse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

• purposed
• purposer
• purposive
• on purpose

Synonyms

• (have set as one's purpose): aim, intend, mean, plan, set out
• (designed for some purpose): intended

Translations

References

• “purpose” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “purpose”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ?ISBN
• "purpose" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.