project

American  

[proj-ekt, -ikt, pruh-jekt] / ˈprɒdʒ ɛkt, -ɪkt, prəˈdʒɛkt /

noun

• projects
  plural

1. something that is contemplated, devised, or planned; plan; scheme.

   I have several little projects around the house that I’d like to tackle in my time off.

   Synonyms:

   proposal

2. a large or major undertaking, especially one involving considerable money, personnel, and equipment.

   The city is undertaking several public works projects to modernize and upgrade infrastructure.

3. a specific task of investigation, especially in scholarship.

   Federal funding supports some cancer-related projects while other research is sustained by private grants.

4. Education. a supplementary, long-term educational assignment necessitating personal initiative, undertaken by an individual student or a group of students.

   For my literature class project, I wrote an original rock opera and performed one song from it.

5. Informal. the projects, a housing project, typically one constructed as a development of high-rise towers with apartments for low-income residents, especially in the second half of the 20th century.

   Back in those days, the projects were no place to raise a family.

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verb (used with object)

• projects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• projected,
  past participle,  past
• projecting
  present participle

1. to propose, contemplate, or plan.

   Synonyms:

   devise, plot, scheme, contrive

2. to throw, cast, or impel forward or onward.

3. to set forth or calculate (some future thing).

   They projected the building costs for the next five years.

   Synonyms:

   predict

4. to throw or cause to fall upon a surface or into space, as a ray of light or a shadow.

5. to cause (a figure or image) to appear, as on a background.

6. to regard (something within the mind, as a feeling, thought, or attitude) as having some form of reality outside the mind.

   He projected a thrilling picture of the party's future.

7. to cause to jut out or protrude.

8. Geometry.

   1. to throw forward an image of (a figure or the like) by straight lines or rays, either parallel, converging, or diverging, that pass through all its points and reproduce it on another surface or figure.

   2. to transform the points (of one figure) into those of another by a correspondence between points.

9. to present (an idea, program, etc.) for consideration or action.

   They made every effort to project the notion of world peace.

10. to use (one's voice, gestures, etc.) forcefully enough to be perceived at a distance, as by all members of the audience in a theater.

11. to communicate clearly and forcefully (one's thoughts, personality, role, etc.) to an audience, as in a theatrical performance; produce a compelling image of.

12. to cause (the voice) to appear to come from a source other than oneself, as in ventriloquism; throw.

verb (used without object)

• projects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• projected,
  past participle,  past
• projecting
  present participle

1. to extend or protrude beyond something else.

   Synonyms:

   overhang, obtrude, bulge

2. to use one's voice forcefully enough to be heard at a distance, as in a theater.

3. to produce a clear impression of one's thoughts, personality, role, etc., in an audience; communicate clearly and forcefully.

4. Psychology. to ascribe one's own feelings, thoughts, or attitudes to others.

project British  

noun

1. a proposal, scheme, or design

2. 1. a task requiring considerable or concerted effort, such as one by students

   2. the subject of such a task

3. short for housing project

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verb

1. (tr) to propose or plan

2. (tr) to predict; estimate; extrapolate

   we can project future needs on the basis of the current birth rate

3. (tr) to throw or cast forwards

4. to jut or cause to jut out

5. (tr) to send forth or transport in the imagination

   to project oneself into the future

6. (tr) to cause (an image) to appear on a surface

7. to cause (one's voice) to be heard clearly at a distance

8. psychol

   1. (intr) (esp of a child) to believe that others share one's subjective mental life

   2. to impute to others (one's hidden desires and impulses), esp as a means of defending oneself Compare introject

9. (tr) geometry to draw a projection of

10. (intr) to communicate effectively, esp to a large gathering

Synonym Usage

See plan.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• counterproject
  noun
• subproject
  noun
• reproject
  verb
• nonprojecting
  adjective
• projectable
  adjective
• unprojected
  adjective
• unprojecting
  adjective
• projectingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• projects
  plural

Participles

• projecting
  present
• projected
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• project
  simple
• projects
  simple
• have projected
  perfect
• has projected
  perfect
• am projecting
  progressive
• are projecting
  progressive
• is projecting
  progressive
• have been projecting
  perfect progressive
• has been projecting
  perfect progressive

Past

• projected
  simple
• had projected
  perfect
• was projecting
  progressive
• were projecting
  progressive
• had been projecting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will project
  simple
• will have projected
  perfect
• will be projecting
  progressive
• will have been projecting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of project

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun project(e) “design, plan,” from Medieval Latin prōjectum, Latin: “projecting part,” noun use of neuter of Latin prōjectus, past participle of prōicere “to throw forward, extend,” equivalent to prō- pro- ¹ + -icere, combining form of jacere “to throw”

Explanation

A project is a piece of work that is planned or intended. Plan a little extra time for your gingerbread house project — gluing the walls and roof can take a while. If you call a person your project, pronounced PRAH-jekt, it means you are trying to improve them by telling them how to behave, etc. As a verb, pronounced pro-JEKT, it means to jut out literally — The fireplace projects into the dining room — or figuratively — Try to project your ideas forcefully. If you assume another person is feeling the same things you are, you are projecting your feelings onto them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

project projects projected projecting

When the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit last December to halt the project, the press corps pushed the litigation as a slam dunk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

His final project was the comedy “Extra’d Out,” according to IMDb.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

He said a better approach would be for every project to have a "passport" which records all the work done.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Through 2035, the company plans to spend $100 billion on the project.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

They told them it was a model of something called the Akosombo Dam—a national project and wonder of engineering that would turn the river, upstream of Akosombo, into a lake!

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

The move comes as Nvidia faces growing scrutiny over its use of its balance sheet to support projects that, in turn, create demand for its chips.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Since then, the two have joined forces in both life and art; they are a married couple, as well as parents and close collaborators on film projects.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Ofgem said the amount of electricity being requested by data centre projects seeking to connect to the grid had risen from 41GW to 125GW in the past year, reflecting a sharp increase in demand.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

The department halted multiple ongoing projects for “being hostile to vehicles” and ended a grant that would have made a street intersection in Boston safer for pedestrians but could “impede vehicle capacity and speed.”

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

Down the steps he galloped, art projects and worksheets flying from his backpack like a paper tornado.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

Net sales growth is now projected to be in the range of 4% to 4.3%, compared with a prior expectation of 3.7% to 4.2%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Published in Science, the research comes at a timely moment: a strengthening El Nino in the equatorial Pacific is projected to become the strongest ever recorded, surpassing other major years including 2015, 1997, and 1982.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

The BOK said inflation is projected to average 2.7% in 2026 and 2.3% in 2027, unchanged from its earlier estimates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Nvidia again projected no revenue from sales of AI computing chips in China in its forecast.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

“Is that he that hath fed on honeydew? Is that my saintly, sugarcoated brother, projected hero of the first game? The patron saint of jump shots?”

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

In 2001, after four straight years of budget surpluses, the CBO released a 10-year forecast projecting that the national debt would be eliminated by 2009.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

How we dress is all about projecting a story.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Revenue amounted to $575 million, above the $570 million that analysts tracked by FactSet had been projecting.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

People could also watch safely by projecting an image of the sun onto a white card using a telescope, a cereal box pinhole viewer, or even a kitchen colander.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Underneath the lighthouse’s copper dome lay sixteen reflecting prisms and four projecting lenses floating in a bath of mercury.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Related Words

• activity
• business
• deal
• design
• enterprise
• job
• plan
• program
• proposal
• scheme
• strategy
• task
• venture