Projects

How to spell projects

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce projects

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does projects mean?

1. nounPlanned pieces of work or undertakings, each with a defined goal.
2. verbCasts something forward, such as light, sound, an image, or a forecast.

Projects in a sentence

• noun

  The team manages several projects at once across different clients.

• verb

  The lamp projects a bright circle onto the far wall.

• noun

  Funding for the new building projects was approved last week.

• verb

  The report projects steady growth over the next five years.

Where does projects come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb proicere, meaning 'to throw forward' or 'to fling out', formed from pro 'forward' and jacere 'to throw'. The past participle projectum gave a noun sense of 'something thrown out or thrust forward', which in late Middle English came to mean a plan or scheme that one 'throws out' for the future. The verb sense, 'to cast or thrust forward', whether a beam of light, the voice, or an estimate into the future, draws on the same physical image of throwing. English absorbed both threads from Latin (partly through Old French) during the 1400s and 1500s. The shared jacere root still throws itself across many relatives, including 'eject', 'inject', 'reject', and 'trajectory'. The stress shift between the noun (PROJ-ects) and the verb (pro-JECTS) is a typical English pattern, but the spelling stays identical, so the only real trap is the same in both: the 'ject' built on that Latin 'throw'.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• -ject- (from Latin jacere: to throw)
• -s (plural noun / third-person verb suffix)