Word Direct Answers

What does "intention" mean?

Intention: A determination to act in a certain way or to do a certain thing; purpose; design; as, an intention to go to New York. Hell is paved with good intentions. Johnson.

Additional senses

  1. 2.The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim. In [chronical distempers], the principal intention is to restore the tone of the solid parts. Arbuthnot.
  2. 3.The state of being strained. See Intension. [Obs.]
  3. 4.(Logic) Any mental apprehension of an object. First intention (Logic), a conception of a thing formed by the first or direct application of the mind to the individual object; an idea or image; as, man, stone. -- Second intention (Logic), a conception generalized from first intuition or apprehension already formed by the mind; an abstract notion; especially, a classified notion, as species, genus, whiteness. -- To heal by the first intention (Surg.), to cicatrize, as a wound, without suppuration. -- To heal by the second intention (Surg.), to unite after suppuration. See Design.

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