second intention
Americannoun
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.
“We don’t know if it’s their first or their second intention” to remain in Mexico, Mr. Ramírez said of asylum petitioners.
From New York Times
Even then the milk would have a suspicious flavor, or post-mortem smell, I apprehend; it would be the same thing, by second intention, as the surgeons say.
From Project Gutenberg
Still, the second intention is not difficult to guess.
From Project Gutenberg
"Abracadabra is a second intention" is neither true nor false.
From Project Gutenberg
It is the designation of these outward things which forms the “first intention” of names; and it is only at a later stage, when thought comes to observe its own modes, that names, looked upon as predicables and universals, are taken in their “second intention.”
From Project Gutenberg
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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.