intended
Americanadjective
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purposed; designed; intentional.
an intended snub.
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prospective.
one's intended wife.
noun
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intendeds
plural
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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intendednessnoun
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quasi-intendedadjective
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unintendedadjective
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intendedlyadverb
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unintendedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of intended
Explanation
Something intended is done on purpose. The intended outcome of a meeting is the result that everyone is planning and hoping for. A robber's intended victim is the person whose purse he means to snatch, and the intended destination of a hot air balloon is the spot where its pilot expects to land. An old-fashioned way to use this word is as a noun, meaning "fiancee" or "person I plan to marry." Intended comes from the verb intend, or "plan," from the Latin intendere, "turn one's attention" or "have as a plan."
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.
See Examples For:
I know one family in which the matriarch left a Colorado ski house to her four children, now in their 70s, with rules intended to keep the home in the family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
For starters, the plaintiff will need proof that the Students for Life leaders actually obtained or intended to obtain the pills.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Further research will be needed to establish whether engineered GMPs can be used safely and effectively in people, particularly if they are intended to persist and produce immune cells over extended periods.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Synetal Solutions says some of their candidates "told us they had secured employment with Bupa" and the reference was "not intended to suggest a formal partnership with Bupa".
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Jennings believed that Madison intended to free him, and he argued his case with the widowed Dolley.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Spurred on by Berowne, “a man replete with mocks,” they double down on whimsy, dressing up for some reason as Russians to bamboozle their intendeds.
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
The online star, who has more than 20m YouTube subscribers, intendeds to sue Paradise for defamation for the "irreparable damages" to his reputation.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2021
The setting is Naples, and old philosopher Don Alfonso bets the boys that their intendeds are fallible.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2014
What is the reason that men fall in love with me, whether I like it or not, and desert their chosen intendeds for my sake?'
From Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Her sketch of a sojourn upon the Lioness Range is not tempting: young gentlemen who intend leading brides to the deadly peninsula should hide the book from their fair intendeds.
From To the Gold Coast for Gold A Personal Narrative in Two Volumes.—Volume I by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
