Aimed

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Pronunciation: /eɪmd/

Definitions

1. To have a specific target in mind when making efforts towards a goal
2. Pointed a weapon or object towards a specific target ; designed or intended to accomplish a certain objective
3. Focused an action or gesture at a particular spot ; meant to achieve a defined purpose or effect

Etymology: Aimed is simply the past tense and past participle of "aim", so the story belongs to the verb. The verb began as a word for estimating, not targeting. In Middle English "aimen" and "eimen" meant "to guess at, to estimate," and the earliest form traces back to a Latin root meaning "to estimate," "aestimare," with the sense of putting a value on something. Archers and marksmen took the idea of judging distance and direction and turned it into the act of pointing a weapon at a mark. The noun "aim" came from Old French "esme," meaning estimate or judgment, which shows the same sense of measuring and assessing carried over into English. Whether the Latin compound was first formed in Medieval Latin or in Old French is uncertain, so the exact route of the word into English remains an open question.

Synonyms: targeted, directed, pointed, focused, intended

Antonyms: ignored, missed, neglected, overlooked, avoided