Goal
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A result that one is attempting to achieve.
"My lifelong goal is to get into a Hollywood movie."
- 2 a successful attempt at scoring wordnet
- 3 In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object.
"The racers are approaching the goal."
- 4 game equipment consisting of the place toward which players of a game try to advance a ball or puck in order to score points wordnet
- 5 The act of placing the object into the goal.
"miss a goal"
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it wordnet
- 7 A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal.
"score a goal"
- 8 the place designated as the end (as of a race or journey) wordnet
- 9 A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb. The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb. Also called a patient, target, or undergoer.
- 1 To score a goal.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"You must not lose sight of your goal in life."
Etymology
From Middle English gol (“boundary, limit”), from Old English *gāl (“obstacle, barrier, marker”), from Proto-West Germanic *gailu, from Proto-Germanic *gailō (“crevice, gap”); compare the Old English's derivatives Old English gǣlan (“to hinder, delay”), and hyġegǣls (“hesitating, slow, sluggish”), hyġegǣlsa (“slow one, sluggish one”). Possibly cognate with Lithuanian gãlas (“end”), Latvian gals (“end”), Old Prussian gallan (“death”), Albanian ngalem (“to be limping, lame, paralyzed”), ngel (“to remain, linger, hesitate, get stuck”).
Related phrases
More for "goal"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.