different between purpose vs explanation

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.

English

Alternative forms

• explaination (misspelling or obsolete spelling)

Etymology

From Latin explanatio (“an explanation, interpretation”), from explanare (“explain”); see explain.

Morphologically explain +? -ation

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??kspl??ne???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

explanation (countable and uncountable, plural explanations)

1. The act or process of explaining.

   The explanation was long and drawn-out.

2. Something that explains, makes understandable.

   An explanation for the UFO sightings was easily found.

3. A resolution of disputed points pursuant to discussion; a mutual clarification of disputed points; reconciliation.

Synonyms

• (act or process of explaining): clarification; elucidation; elaboration; explaining; femsplaining (pej., particularly by a feminist to a man); mansplaining, mansplanation (pej., particularly by a man to a woman)

Related terms

• explain
• explanatory
• explicative
• explicator
• explicatory

Translations

Further reading

• explanation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• explanation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.