intentional
[in-ten-shuh-nl]
- done with intention or on purpose; intended: an intentional insult.
- of or relating to intention or purpose.
- Metaphysics.
- pertaining to an appearance, phenomenon, or representation in the mind; phenomenal; representational.
- pertaining to the capacity of the mind to refer to an existent or nonexistent object.
- pointing beyond itself, as consciousness or a sign.
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Origin of intentional
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
1. See deliberate.
Antonyms
1. accidental.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
premeditatedwillfulcalculatedvoluntarydesignedadvisedconsideredintendedplannedproposedstudiedwillingunforcedaforethoughtmeantmeditatedprearrangedpurposedwittingExamples from the Web for intentional
Contemporary Examples
At the moment, the same dynamic is at work, but largely the result of market forces, not intentional policy in Washington.
But there is more to this behaviour than intentional amnesia.
Surely it was intentional and perpetrated by Assad or ISIS or a still-unrecognized radical group.
The Estonian statement implied the alleged abduction is an intentional slap in the face to the Americans.
To McCain, that amounts to an American alliance with those countries, whether that was intentional or not.
Historical Examples
It is possible for action to be at once intentional and purposeless.
Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense MetaphysicsWilliam Thomas Thornton
Stan was sure it was intentional, but he could never prove it.
A Yankee Flier Over BerlinAl Avery
The forgetting was a little too intentional to be entirely complete.
The Dominant StrainAnna Chapin Ray
Not an intentional one, or one that could have been avoided, apparently.
An American SuffragetteIsaac N. Stevens
She had never sinned against him, even by intentional silence.
Kept in the DarkAnthony Trollope
intentional
- performed by or expressing intention; deliberate
- of or relating to intention or purpose
- philosophy
- of or relating to the capacity of the mind to refer to different kinds of objects
- (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 unicornSee also intensional
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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 intentional
adj.
1520s, from Medieval Latin intentionalis, from intentionem (see intention). Intentional fallacy recorded from 1946. Related: Intentionality.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper