Objectives

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əbˈd͡ʒɛk.tɪvz/

Definitions

1. Aims or targets that guide the actions of individuals or organizations toward specific outcomes
2. Specific goals or results that are intended to be reached by individuals or groups within a set period
3. Specific targets or goals set to achieve particular results in various activities

Etymology: "Objectives" is simply the plural of "objective," and the noun's history runs through a shift from the philosophical to the practical. The base word traces to Medieval Latin "obiectivus," a term from scholastic philosophy that described something as it exists in the mind, as opposed to something existing independently in the world. Middle French took up the word as "objectif," and English adopted it in the Middle English period as "obgectyf." The word's path to its current sense is a matter of gradual drift rather than a single event. Its core idea, a thing placed before the mind as a point of focus, carried over naturally into the notion of a target one aims at. The plural "objectives" therefore names the particular aims a person, company or project sets out to reach, each one a point toward which effort is directed.

Synonyms: goals, aims, targets, purposes, intentions

Antonyms: aimlessness, lack, failure, disinterest, indifference