Intentions

How to spell intentions

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce intentions

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intentions mean?

1. nounPlans or aims that someone has resolved to carry out.

Intentions in a sentence

• She announced her intentions to retire at the end of the year.

• His intentions were good, but the project still failed.

Where does intentions come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb intendere, which literally meant 'to stretch towards' or 'to aim at', built from the prefix in- ('towards') and tendere ('to stretch'). The Romans used it both physically, for stretching a bow towards a target, and figuratively, for directing the mind towards a goal. From that verb came the noun intentio, meaning a stretching, straining, or purpose, which passed into Old French as entencion before reaching Middle English in the 1300s. The same tendere root quietly powers a large family of English words, including 'tension', 'extend', and 'attend', all of which involve some kind of stretching or directing. The spelling keeps the Latin -tion ending intact, which is the usual trap: the word sounds like 'shun' at the end but is written with the t that the Latin root demands.

How the word is built

• in- (towards)
• tent (from tendere: to stretch, aim)
• -ion (noun-forming)
• -s (plural)