purpose

Shocking as it is, more than a month after the hurricane hit, New Orleans is still, for all practical purposes, a ghost town. —Tom Piazza, Why New Orleans Matters, 2005

By the time … American aid began pouring in, to all intents and purposes the war had already been lost. —Neil L. Jamieson, Understanding Vietnam, 1993

But wartime wage and price controls prevented companies from competing for the available talent by means of increased salaries. They had to compete with fringe benefits instead, and free health insurance was tailor-made for this purpose. —John Steele Gordon, American Heritage, May - June 1992

His purpose is to realize himself, to live the fullest possible life, and he is responsible for this, like all men, regardless of how society treats him. —Shelby Steele, Wilson Quarterly, Summer 1990

The purpose of the new resort is to attract more tourists.

The loans are small but they serve a good purpose.

Sometimes his life seemed to lack purpose or meaning.

We started work again with a renewed sense of purpose.

I have not purposed to misrepresent this boy in any way, for what little indignation he excited in me soon passed and left nothing behind it but compassion. —Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880

The child then explained that they had left the races on the first day, and were travelling to the next town on that road, where they purposed to spend the night. —Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841

I've been purposing to fix that thing for some time now.