1 [countable] the aim that someone wants to achieve, or that something is intended to achieve
I use my boat mainly for leisure purposes.
purpose of: The purpose of this dictionary is to help students of English.
the purpose of doing something: The President’s trip will have the purpose of negotiating a peace deal.
for the purpose of doing something: He went there for the purpose of making business contacts.
someone’s purpose in doing something: Her sole purpose in being here was to kill some time.
suit someone’s purpose: You must decide which method suits your purpose best.
serve a purpose (=achieve an aim): Another meeting would serve absolutely no purpose.
defeat the purpose of something (=make it impossible to achieve the aim that you want to achieve): Exercising for too long defeats the purpose of doing exercise in the first place.
Synonyms and related words