aim
part of speech
noun (an aim, aims); verb (aim, aims, aimed, aiming)
meaning for a pupil
1) What you are trying to do or get; your goal or purpose. tree →
2) To point a ball, an arrow or a camera at something you want to hit or reach. tree →
3) To plan or try to do something (We aim to finish by lunch). tree →
4) To direct words or an action at a particular person or group (The book is aimed at children). tree →
5) Your skill at hitting what you point at (good aim). tree →
sense in the lessons
In school science, every experiment starts with an aim: what we want to find out. In lessons, teachers share the «learning aim» or «learning intention». In sport it is about pointing and throwing. In safety: never aim anything (a stick, a toy gun, a hose, a laser) at someone's face or eyes. Phrases: aim for, aim to, aim at, take aim, the aim of the game, aimed at.
examples
- Distribution was delayed unril this year (1922) by a supplement aiming at a solution of the Pythagorean philosophy. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- § 10 The ten digits and zero, their appearance is like light- ning; to their aim there is no limit. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- Who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrow, a poisoned word; (Writings PSA.64.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- The aim of this experiment is to find out which material keeps ice frozen longest. tree →
- Aim the ball at the middle of the hoop. tree →
- We aim to raise 200 dollars for the animal shelter. tree →
- The archer took aim and hit the target. tree →
- This show is aimed at young children. tree →
- His aim is to swim a whole length without stopping. tree →
- Never aim a water pistol at someone's eyes. tree →
- Her aim was perfect — she knocked down every can. tree →
- He took aim, and let it fly. tree →
note
«Aim to do» (aim to win) and «aim at/for something» (aim for the goal). «Aim» and «goal» are close; «aim» is often used for the first line of an experiment write-up (Aim, Equipment, Method, Results, Conclusion).
In the corpora
- Who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrow, a poisoned word;
- Food adverts aimed at children have rules about what they can show; a snack does not make a show better.
- Art can aim to be beautiful, but also to shock, ask questions, make people laugh or remember something.
- Aim water guns at the body, not the face, and only at people who are playing too.
- In chess the aim is checkmate, trapping the king, not capturing everything.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «aim» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.