telic
[tel-ik, tee-lik]
- Grammar. expressing end or purpose: a telic conjunction.
- tending to a definite end.
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Origin of telic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for telic
Historical Examples
Telic character or purposiveness and fixity are like oil and water.
The Will to DoubtAlfred H. Lloyd
Hence the supernatural and telic forces, to which the scientist had had recourse, have been rendered superfluous.
Purposive progress rather than unconscious, telic rather than genetic, is the order of the evolution of society.
SocietyHenry Kalloch Rowe
Certain families may definitely determine to modify their habits, and within a few years accomplish a telic change.
SocietyHenry Kalloch Rowe
He has learned the futility of telic endeavor, and knows the delight of drifting along with the whimsicalities of Chance.
The RoadJack London
telic
- directed or moving towards some goal; purposeful
- (of a clause or phrase) expressing purpose
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek telikos final, from telos end
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for telic
adj.
1846, from Greek telikos "final," from telos (see tele-).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper