Intend Meaning
/ɪnˈtɛnd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo fix the mind upon (something, or something to be accomplished); be intent upon
verbTo fix the mind on; attend to; take care of; superintend; regard.
Sentence Examples
I don't intend to be selfish.
What do you intend to do?
I'm feeling ill, but I intend to go out anyhow.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I ____ to finish my homework before dinner, so I am working quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ to travel to Japan next year to see the beautiful cherry blossoms and visit old temples.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English intenden, entenden (“direct (one’s) attention towards”), borrowed from Old French entendre, from Latin intendō, intendere. See also intensive. Doublet of entendre. Largely displaced native Old English myntan (“to mean, intend; to think, suppose”), whence dialectal mint.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill."
— 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
"In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way."
— 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I ____ to finish my homework before dinner, so I am working quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ to travel to Japan next year to see the beautiful cherry blossoms and visit old temples.