intentional
Americanadjective
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done with intention or on purpose; intended.
an intentional insult.
- Antonyms:
- accidental
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of or relating to intention or purpose.
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Metaphysics.
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pertaining to an appearance, phenomenon, or representation in the mind; phenomenal; representational.
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pertaining to the capacity of the mind to refer to an existent or nonexistent object.
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pointing beyond itself, as consciousness or a sign.
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adjective
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performed by or expressing intention; deliberate
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of or relating to intention or purpose
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philosophy
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of or relating to the capacity of the mind to refer to different kinds of objects
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(of an object) existing only as the object of some mental attitude rather than in reality, as a unicorn in she hopes to meet a unicorn See also intensional
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Synonym Usage
See deliberate.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of intentional
Explanation
Something intentional was done on purpose. If a crime was intentional, it was no accident. If you bump into your little brother in the hallway because you weren't paying attention, it's unintentional. But if wait for him to walk by and then stick out your foot to trip him, it's intentional. And not very nice. Usually we let people off the hook if they do something bad accidentally. But if your evil doings are premeditated, consciously planned, or otherwise intentional, no one will take much pity on you.
Vocabulary lists containing intentional
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Thirteen Reasons Why
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I thought Matt Reeves’ work on ‘The Batman’ was stunning; it was intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent,” he said in his statement, first reported by Deadline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
There’s a really bad pun in the chorus, which was intentional: “Cry me an ocean of one-liners.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Cruise’s character is an intentional parallel to his own cinema-championing schtick, an actor who believes every scene he’s in should carry some semblance of the truth.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
“People are being more differentiated, and employers are being more intentional in terms of how they use those budgets. There’s not a lot of peanut buttering, as there might have been in the past.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Whether or not their deaths were intentional, these two men had done what no other sumo insider had previously done: named names.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
