Purposefully

How to spell purposefully

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce purposefully

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does purposefully mean?

1. adverbIn a determined and deliberate way, with a clear aim in mind.

Purposefully in a sentence

• She walked purposefully toward the manager's office to hand in her notice.

• He set the deadline purposefully early to leave room for revisions.

Where does purposefully come from?

Language of origin: French

This adverb is built on the noun 'purpose', which English took from the Old French 'porpos', meaning an aim or intention. That French word came in turn from the verb 'porposer', to put forward or propose, and behind it lies the Latin 'proponere', literally 'to set before', from 'pro' (forward) and 'ponere' (to place). So the underlying idea is of placing a goal in front of yourself and then acting toward it. English added the native Germanic ending '-ful' to give 'purposeful' (full of purpose, determined) and then the adverb-forming '-ly' to produce 'purposefully'. The spelling trap is the join: 'purpose' keeps its silent final 'e' before '-ful', and the suffix '-ful' is spelled with a single 'l', yet the adverb '-ly' then adds a second 'l', giving the doubled 'll' that writers often miscount.

How the word is built

• purpose (aim, intention; from Old French)
• -ful (full of)
• -ly (adverb suffix)