aim
- to position or direct (a firearm, ball, arrow, rocket, etc.) so that, on firing or release, the discharged projectile will hit a target or travel along a certain path.
- to intend or direct for a particular effect or purpose: to aim a satire at snobbery.
- to point or direct a gun, punch, etc., toward: He aimed at the target but missed it.
- to strive; try (usually followed by to or at): We aim to please. They aim at saving something every month.
- to intend: She aims to go tomorrow.
- to direct efforts, as toward an object: The satire aimed at modern greed.
- Obsolete. to estimate; guess.
- the act of aiming or directing anything at or toward a particular point or target.
- the direction in which a weapon or missile is pointed; the line of sighting: within the cannon's aim.
- the point intended to be hit; thing or person aimed at: to miss one's aim.
- something intended or desired to be attained by one's efforts; purpose: whatever his aim in life may be.
- Obsolete. conjecture; guess.
- take aim, to sight a target: to take aim and fire.
Origin of aim
Synonyms for aim
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
AIM
- American Indian Movement.
Related Words for aim
desire, direction, target, wish, aspiration, intention, intent, purpose, ambition, objective, plan, intend, propose, focus, direct, try, design, want, address, meanExamples from the Web for aim
Contemporary Examples of aim
And, as Gow adds wryly from his own personal experience, “To a huge extent they achieved that aim very well.”
To “link up the beachheads and peg out claims well inland” was necessarily the first aim of Overlord.
Their aim was to make beautiful art—and hopefully spark a conversation.
It just seemed Monday night, as it has throughout, that her aim was off.
The aim is very pragmatic and much less idealistic than, say, similar protests in Egypt or Turkey in the last few years.
Historical Examples of aim
We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
My whole study and aim was to do right—to be just to my hands and do my duty to my employer.
Biography of a SlaveCharles Thompson
It is the aim of the present dissertation to accomplish this.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
It now becomes my aim today to lay siege to this town and capture it.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
I don't know what you mean, and my only aim is to please master in everything.
The Imaginary InvalidMolire
aim
- to point (a weapon, missile, etc) or direct (a blow) at a particular person or object; level
- (tr) to direct (satire, criticism, etc) at a person, object, etc
- (intr; foll by at or an infinitive) to propose or intendwe aim to leave early
- (intr; often foll by at or for) to direct one's efforts or strive (towards)to aim at better communications; to aim high
- the action of directing something at an object
- the direction in which something is pointed; line of sighting (esp in the phrase to take aim)
- the object at which something is aimed; target
- intention; purpose
Word Origin for aim
AIM
- (in Britain) Alternative Investment Market
Word Origin and History for aim
early 14c., "to estimate, calculate," also "to intend," from Old French aesmer "value, rate; count, estimate," from Latin aestimare "appraise" (see estimation); current meaning apparently developed from "esteem," to "calculate," to "calculate with a view to action" (c.1400), then to "direct a missile, a blow, etc." (1570s). Related: Aimed; aiming.
early 14c., "target;" late 14c., "guess;" from aim (v.). Meaning "action of aiming" is from early 15c. (to take aim, originally make aim); that of "thing intended, purpose" is from 1620s.
Idioms and Phrases with aim
aim
In addition to the idiom beginning with aim
- aim to
also see:
- take aim