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aim

Pronunciation: /eɪm/

The English word “aim” has 11 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The pointing of a weapon, as a gun, a dart, or an arrow, or object, in the line of direction with the object intended to be struck; the line of fire; the direction of anything, such as a spear, a blow, a discourse, a remark, towards a particular point or object, with a view to strike or affect it.
  2. The level of accuracy of a weapon.
  3. The point intended to be hit, or object intended to be attained or affected.
  4. Intention or goal.
  5. The ability of someone to aim straight; one’s faculty for being able to hit a physical target.
  6. Conjecture; guess.

verb

  1. To point or direct a missile, or a weapon which propels as missile, towards an object or spot with the intent of hitting it
  2. To direct the intention or purpose; to attempt the accomplishment of a purpose; to try to gain; to endeavor;—followed by at, or by an infinitive
  3. To direct or point (e.g. a weapon), at a particular object; to direct, as a missile, an act, or a proceeding, at, to, or against an object
  4. To direct (something verbal) towards a certain person, thing, or group
  5. To guess or conjecture.

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English amen, aimen, eimen (“to guess at, to estimate, to aim”), borrowed from Old French esmer, aesmer, asmer, from Latin ad- plus aestimare (“to estimate”), the compound perhaps being originally formed in Medieval Latin (adaestimare), perhaps in Old French. The noun is from Middle English ame, from Old French aesme, esme.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.