play person studying illustration

'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'?

We're intent on clearing it up


Is the phrase 'for all intensive purposes' or 'for all intents and purposes'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.

Transcript

Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word, and feels like the right word, isn't actually the right word. It's an eggcorn.

If something has the same effect or result as another thing, it's not "for all intensive purposes" the same as that other thing, it's for all intents and purposes the same. It shares the same aim as the other thing, so it has the same effect or result.

Up next

play video who vs whom
Who vs. Whom

 

Good news for those who feel stuffy saying 'whom.'

play body parts video
When Body Parts Are Also Verbs

 

Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes

play videos pictures in the dictionary
Pictures in the Dictionary

 

The story of those iconic illustrations.

play video between you and i or me
I vs. Me

 

'Between you and __'? Simple guidance for a tricky pronoun.

play video websters video of 1864
Webster's Dictionary of 1864

 

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.