goal
UK /ɡəʊl/ · US /ɡoʊl/ noun, verb
Forms goals goaling goaled
- noun A result that one is attempting to achieve. “My lifelong goal is to get into a Hollywood movie.”
- noun (sports) In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object. “The racers are approaching the goal.”
- noun (sports) The act of placing the object into the goal. “miss a goal”
- noun A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal. “score a goal”
- noun (linguistics, grammar) A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb.
- noun (linguistics, grammar) The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb.
- verb (Gaelic football, Australian rules football) To score a goal.
Synonyms
ambition patient target undergoer object of desire objective purpose aspiration aim end terminus ad quem intention object success telos finish destination
Etymology
From Middle English gol (“boundary, limit”), from Old English *gāl (“obstacle, barrier, marker”), from Proto-West Germanic *gailu, from Proto-Germanic *gailō (“crevice, gap”); compare the Old English's derivatives Old English gǣlan (“to hinder, delay”), and hyġegǣls (“hesitating, slow, sluggish”), hyġegǣlsa (“slow one, sluggish one”).
Possibly cognate with Lithuanian gãlas (“end”), Latvian gals (“end”), Old Prussian gallan (“death”), Albanian ngalem (“to be limping, lame, paralyzed”), ngel (“to remain, linger, hesitate, get stuck”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The mark set to bound a race, and to or around which the constestants run, or from which they start to return to it again; the place at which a race or a journey is to end. Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels.
- noun The final purpose or aim; the end to which a design tends, or which a person aims to reach or attain.
Etymology [F. gaule pole, Prov. F. waule, of German origin; cf. Fries. walu staff, stick, rod, Goth. walus, Icel. völr a round stick; prob. akin to E. wale.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “goal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details