Purposiveness

//ˈpɜː(ɹ)pəsɪvnəs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or condition of being purposive. uncountable, usually

    "1853, William Benjamin Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology, Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 5th American and 4th Enlarged London Edition, Chapter 14, p. 675, These reflex actions of the Spinal Cord have much more regularity and apparent purposiveness in the lower Vertebrata, approaching in this respect to the reflex actionso fhte ganglionic column of Articulata, than they have in Man."

Synonyms

All synonyms
purposivity

Example

More examples

"1853, William Benjamin Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology, Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 5th American and 4th Enlarged London Edition, Chapter 14, p. 675, These reflex actions of the Spinal Cord have much more regularity and apparent purposiveness in the lower Vertebrata, approaching in this respect to the reflex actionso fhte ganglionic column of Articulata, than they have in Man."

Etymology

From purposive + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.