noun instance; example.
2. purpose ·noun proposal to another; discourse.
3. purpose ·vt to set forth; to bring forward.
4. purpose ·vi to have a purpose or intention; to discourse.
5. purpose ·noun that which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan.
6. purpose ·vt to propose, as an aim, to one's self; to determine upon, as some end or object to be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve;
often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause.