Goalward

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Moving in the direction of an intended aim or purpose
2. Heading in the direction of a desired endpoint or target
3. Progressing forward with the intention of reaching a specified goal

Etymology: "Goalward" is a plain compound: "goal" plus the suffix "-ward," meaning "in the direction of." The suffix comes from Old English "-weard," which carried the same sense of turning toward something, and it appears in many familiar words such as "homeward," "backward," and "forward." The suffix has an ancient pedigree, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root for "turn," but in English it works as a simple, productive ending that can be attached to almost any noun of direction or destination. The first half, "goal," has a more surprising history. In Middle English the word was "gol," which meant a boundary or a limit, and in the earliest records it referred to the finish line or the turning point in a race or contest. The modern sense of an aim or objective grew out of that physical sense of a marked endpoint. Its exact earlier roots are uncertain, so the clearest thread runs from the idea of a fixed place at the end of a course to the idea of a target one works toward.