purposeful
[pur-puh s-fuh l]
- having a purpose.
- determined; resolute.
- full of meaning; significant.
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Origin of purposeful
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for purposeful
Contemporary Examples
There are a number of inadvertent and purposeful ways for universities to skew their Clery Act numbers.
Bitcoin serves a purpose that is at once expressive and purposeful.
Safety is an issue; purposeful helmet-to-helmet hits needed to be made illegal.
It demonstrates either an incredible act of purposeful evasion or self-deception.
His words were purposeful, almost business-like, with the tautest of poetical flourishes.
Historical Examples
He moved off with all the confident air of his simple, purposeful nature.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
It was the stubborn, purposeful character of the man that she admired, and thought most of.
The Night RidersRidgwell Cullum
And he was cool, too; cool and self-contained; fearless and purposeful.
ScaramoucheRafael Sabatini
He accepted that feeling with a purposeful sternness, and tried to pass on.
Under Western EyesJoseph Conrad
He, this man who had robbed me of my hard-working, purposeful existence.
Under Western EyesJoseph Conrad
purposeful
- having a definite purpose in view
- fixed in one's purpose; determined
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usage
Purposefully is sometimes wrongly used where purposely is meant: he had purposely (not purposefully) left the door unlocked
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 purposeful
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper