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aim

[eym]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR aim ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

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.

noun

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.

Idioms

take aim, to sight a target: to take aim and fire.

Origin of aim

1275–1325; late Middle English aimen < Anglo-French a(e)smer, eimer, Old French aesmer < Vulgar Latin *adaestimāre, equivalent to Latin ad- ad- + aestimāre (see estimate); replacing Middle English amen < Old French (dial.) amer < Latin aestimāre

Related formsaim·er, nounaim·ful, adjectiveaim·ful·ly, adverbmis·aim, verb, nounun·aimed, adjectiveun·aim·ing, adjectiveun·der·aim, nounun·der·aim, verbwell-aimed, adjective

Synonyms for aim

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR aim ON THESAURUS.COM

1. point. 8. sighting. 10. target, objective. 11. goal; intent, design.

Synonym study

11. Aim, end, object all imply something that is the goal of one's efforts. Aim implies that toward which one makes a direct line, refusing to be diverted from it: a nobleness of aim; one's aim in life. End emphasizes the goal as a cause of efforts: the end for which one strives. Object emphasizes the goal as that toward which all efforts are directed: the object of years of study.

AIM

[eym]

noun

American Indian Movement.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for aim

desire, direction, target, wish, aspiration, intention, intent, purpose, ambition, objective, plan, intend, propose, focus, direct, try, design, want, address, mean

Examples 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.”
‘Nazi Cows’ Tried to Kill British Farmer
Tom Sykes
January 6, 2015
To “link up the beachheads and peg out claims well inland” was necessarily the first aim of Overlord.
Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day
James Jones
November 15, 2014
Their aim was to make beautiful art—and hopefully spark a conversation.
Anatomy of a Drone Porn: ‘Drone Boning’ Makes Sex Look Like Art
Aurora Snow
November 8, 2014
It just seemed Monday night, as it has throughout, that her aim was off.
Mitch McConnell-Alison Lundergan Grimes Debate Leaves Kentucky Hanging
Sam Youngman
October 14, 2014
The aim is very pragmatic and much less idealistic than, say, similar protests in Egypt or Turkey in the last few years.
Beijing/Hong Kong: A Tale of Two Cities as Demonstrations Continue
Ben Leung
October 1, 2014

Historical Examples of aim

We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
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 Slave
Charles Thompson
It is the aim of the present dissertation to accomplish this.
The Dramatic Values in Plautus
Wilton Wallace Blancke
It now becomes my aim today to lay siege to this town and capture it.
The Dramatic Values in Plautus
Wilton Wallace Blancke
I don't know what you mean, and my only aim is to please master in everything.
The Imaginary Invalid
Molire

British Dictionary definitions for aim

aim

verb

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

noun

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

C14: via Old French aesmer from Latin aestimāre to estimate

AIM

abbreviation for

(in Britain) Alternative Investment Market

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aim

v.

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.

n.

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with aim

aim

In addition to the idiom beginning with aim

aim to

also see:

take aim

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.