Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

purposeful

/ˈpɝ.pəs.fəl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.07 in modern English

Syllables: pur-pose-ful
IPA: /ˈpɝ.pəs.fəl/

17

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having purpose: having intention or meaning; intentional.

adj

Having a purpose in mind; resolute; determined, full of determination.

Example Sentences

"[…] particular improvements in the teacher's stimulation and direction of the purposeful activities of children. It indicates, in this particular, growth of the teacher in guiding the purposeful activities of boys and girls. The purposes, in brief, are : 1. Primary purpose: to enable the teacher to grow continuously in stimulating and directing the purposeful activities of boys and girls. 2. Secondary purpose: to reveal teaching difficulties […]"
"[…] spend purposeful time with my grandparents where we found out more about each other and had some interesting discussions."
"An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner. Before that, England had utterly dominated to take another purposeful stride towards the 2013 European Championship in Israel. They have already established a five-point buffer at the top of Group Eight."

Etymology

From purpose + -ful.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: purpose

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈpɝ.pəs.fəl/
British English: /ˈpɜː.pəs.fəl/

Inflected Forms

more purposeful (comparative) most purposeful (superlative)

Derived Forms

multipurposeful nonpurposeful purposefully purposefulness semipurposeful unpurposeful

Phrases

purposeful availment nose to the grindstone

Frequently Paired Words

purposive nose to the grindstone

Synonyms

deliberate intentional purposive determined focused resolute

Questions

How do you pronounce purposeful?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɝ.pəs.fəl/.
What does purposeful mean?: Having purpose: having intention or meaning; intentional.
Where does purposeful come from?: From purpose + -ful.

How to pronounce purposeful

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “purposeful”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpɝ.pəs.fəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “purposeful”.
Repeat and practice — Say “purposeful” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.