AIM | Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of aim in English aimnoun uk /eɪm/ us /eɪm/

aim noun (INTENTION)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 [ C ] a result that your plans or actions are intended to achieve: My main aim in life is to be a good husband and father. Our short-term aim is to deal with our current financial difficulties, but our long-term aim is to improve the company's profitability. The leaflet has been produced with the aim of increasing public awareness of the disease. Synonyms ambition aspiration (HOPE) dream (HOPE) goal (AIM) hope intent formal or specialized intention object (PURPOSE) objective target (AIM) something you want to do or achieve

• aimOur aim in protesting is to raise awareness of the unfairness of the system.
• goalMy goal in life has always been to be financially independent.
• objectiveOne of my objectives for this year is to increase sales.
• targetIf you meet your sales targets you will receive a generous bonus.
• dreamWhen I was growing up my dream was to perform in front of millions of people.
• hopeMy hope is that there will be some kind of positive outcome to this process.

See more results »

• The writer's aim was to debunk the myth that had grown up around the actress.
• The aim was to cut off the enemy's escape route.
• The aim is to improve the public image of the police.
• The aim of the association is to perpetuate the skills of traditional furniture design.
• She set out with the aim of becoming the youngest ever winner of the championship.

Goals and purposes

• achievement orientation
• affordance
• ambition
• avail
• dedicated
• dream
• eye
• function
• goal
• idea
• idly
• intention
• mission
• raison d'être
• reorientate
• reorientation
• someone's heart's desire idiom
• someone's idea of something idiom
• subgoal
• target setting

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aim noun (POINTING)

[ U ] the act of pointing a weapon towards something: He fired six shots at the target, but his aim was terrible, and he missed all of them. She raised her gun, took aim and fired. Target sports

• arrow
• arrowhead
• biathlete
• bow
• bowstring
• bowyer
• bracer
• bullseye
• clay pigeon
• dartboard
• marksman
• ringer
• sharpshooter
• shooter
• shooting
• shooting gallery
• target
• target practice
• toxophilite
• toxophily

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Aiming and aim aimverb uk /eɪm/ us /eɪm/

aim verb (INTEND)

B1 [ I ] to intend: [ + to infinitive ] I aim to be a millionaire by the time I'm 35. We are aiming for (= planning to achieve) a 50 percent share of the German market.

• We always aim to give our clients personal attention.
• Psychoanalysts aim to explore the innermost recesses of the mind.
• The Pentagon is aiming to cut US forces by over 25 percent in the next five years.
• We're aiming to expand our customer base.
• The builders are aiming to get the job done by the end of the month.

Planning, expecting and arranging

• accidentally
• accidentally on purpose idiom
• advertent
• advisably
• advisedly
• allow
• cue
• fully expect someone/something to do something
• game fixing
• game something out phrasal verb
• half expect someone/something to do something
• have something in mind idiom
• muster
• presentiment
• prognosis
• programmatically
• proposed
• provide
• provide against something phrasal verb
• reckon

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aim verb (POINT)

[ I or T ] to point or direct a weapon towards someone or something that you want to hit: Aim (the arrow) a little above the target. Aim at the yellow circle. There are hundreds of nuclear missiles aimed at the main cities. She aimed (= directed) a kick at my shins. Let's aim for (= go in the direction of) Coventry first, and then we'll have a look at the map.

• In a level voice, he ordered the soldiers to aim and fire.
• She aimed at the target.
• The gun turret revolved until the gun was aimed at the advancing soldiers.
• Video footage clearly shows a police officer aiming a pistol at a demonstrator.
• She picked up an apple and aimed it at his head.

Aiming and aim

• crosshairs
• direct
• direct something against someone/something
• direct something at someone/something
• home
• home in on something/someone phrasal verb
• level
• level something at someone phrasal verb
• retarget
• target
• train
• zero
• zero in on something/someone phrasal verb

Phrasal verbs

aim at something aim something at someone (Definition of aim from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

aim | American Dictionary

aimverb us /eɪm/

aim verb (POINT)

Add to word list Add to word list [ I/T ] to point or direct a weapon or other object toward someone or something: [ T ] I turned and saw a big man aiming a camera at me. [ I/T ] To aim something is also to direct it toward someone whom you want to influence or toward achieving something: [ T ] These ads are aimed at young people.

aim verb (INTEND)

[ I ] to plan for a specific purpose; intend: The measures aimed at preserving family life. This book aims at attracting the serious reader. aimnoun us /eɪm/

aim noun (INTENTION)

[ C ] a result that your plans or actions are intended to achieve: The commission’s aim was to convince workers of their extreme importance in ship production.

aim noun (POINTING)

[ U ] the act of pointing a weapon toward something: She raised her bow, took aim, and hit the bull’s-eye. (Definition of aim from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

aim | Business English

aimnoun [ C ] uk /eɪm/ us Add to word list Add to word list something that you plan or hope to achieve: Our aim is customer satisfaction.with the aim of doing sth Environmentalists designed the project with the aim of increasing awareness of industrial pollution. See also goal objective aimverb uk /eɪm/ us [ I ] to plan or hope to achieve something: aim to do sth A spokesman for the company says they are aiming to increase sales by 25% next year.aim for sth The former Senator now aims for a political appointment in Washington.

Phrasal verb

aim at AIMnoun   STOCK MARKET uk us abbreviation for Alternative Investment Market: a stock market for small companies that is part of the London Stock Exchange: Originally an AIM share, SFI now has a full listing on the main stock market. (Definition of aim from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of aim

aim The positive part aims to show that adoption and practice are sufficient to create the fundamental plans of a legal system. From the Cambridge English Corpus This indicator aimed to validate teachers' approach to lesson planning while attempting to link teacher thinking and administrator thinking through a shared discourse. From the Cambridge English Corpus It was not our aim to deny that there is experience, nor to deny that experience has a qualitative character. From the Cambridge English Corpus The aim is to provide insight into the more rigorous formalization that will be provided in the following sections. From the Cambridge English Corpus Moreover, common expressions are open to multiple philosophical interpretations precisely because common expressions lack the precision aimed for (though not always achieved) by philosophical discourse. From the Cambridge English Corpus His research aims at understanding consciousness as a natural biological phenomenon and at fruitful interaction between philosophical and empirical research in the study of consciousness. From the Cambridge English Corpus Secondary aims were to study the relationship between psychological, endocrine and immune variables and baseline tumour characteristics. From the Cambridge English Corpus The present study aimed to assess, in a community sample, actions taken to cope with depression at different levels of psychological distress. From the Cambridge English Corpus The book is aimed at early level, new or returning adult piano students. From the Cambridge English Corpus The restriction aims at reducing the combinatorial complexity of rule numbers due to the order sensitivity of phrase structure grammar. From the Cambridge English Corpus In particular, the book is aimed at signal processing practitioners, especially research workers and students working in areas of radar, sonar, telecommunications and biomedical engineering. From the Cambridge English Corpus They aimed to fragment the township communities and divorce them from the tacksmen, thus removing the basis of the clan military, social and economic structure. From the Cambridge English Corpus Therefore, teachers have different teaching aims in their practices and form a variety of teaching approaches accordingly. From the Cambridge English Corpus Party-based systems create career incentives for the legislator to support the overall aims of the parties. From the Cambridge English Corpus The aim of this study was to investigate outcome in frequent attenders in secondary care who present repeatedly with medically unexplained symptoms. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of aim These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of aim, AIM?

Translations of aim

in Chinese (Traditional) 打算, 目標，目的, 意圖… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 打算, 目标，目的, 意图… See more in Spanish objetivo, puntería, aspirar… See more in Portuguese objetivo, pontaria, ter o objetivo de …… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian तुम्ही ठरवलेले ध्येय किंवा तुम्हाला साधावयाचे असणारे लक्ष, लक्ष, हेतू… See more 目的, 目標, ねらい… See more amaç, hedef, silahla nişan almak… See more pointer sur, viser, aspirer à… See more objectiu, aspirar, pretendre… See more richten, beogen, het mikken… See more உங்கள் திட்டங்கள் அல்லது செயல்கள் அடைய விரும்பும் முடிவு, உத்தேசிக்க… See more लक्ष्य, लक्ष्य रखना… See more ધ્યેય, લક્ષ્ય, ઉદ્દેશ્ય… See more sigte, have til hensigt, hensigt… See more sikta, rikta, sikta på… See more acu, sasaran, rancangan… See more zielen (mit), anstreben, das Zielen… See more sikte, rette, ha til hensikt… See more مقصد… See more цілити(ся), прагнути, намагатися… See more లక్ష్యం, ఉద్దేశించడం… See more লক্ষ্য, মনস্থ করা… See more (za)mířit, usilovat o, schopnost mířit… See more membidik, bermaksud, bidikan… See more เล็งเป้าหมาย, ตั้งเป้า, ความตั้งใจ… See more nhắm, tập trung vào, ý định… See more cel, celować, mieć na celu… See more 목적, -하려 노력하다, 조준하다… See more scopo, proposito, aspirare… See more Need a translator?

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ailed aileron ailing ailment aim aim at something phrasal verb AIM-listed aimed aiming {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of aim

• AIM-listed
• AIM, at Alternative Investment Market
• AIM-quoted, at AIM-listed
• aim at phrasal verb
• aim at something phrasal verb
• aim something at someone phrasal verb

See all meanings

• aim at phrasal verb
• aim at something phrasal verb
• aim something at someone phrasal verb

See all phrasal verb meanings

Word of the Day

record

UK /rɪˈkɔːd/ US /rɪˈkɔːrd/

to keep information for the future, by writing it down or storing it on a computer

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • aim (INTENTION)
    • aim (POINTING)
  • Verb 
    • aim (INTEND)
    • aim (POINT)
• American   
  • Verb 
    • aim (POINT)
    • aim (INTEND)
  • Noun 
    • aim (INTENTION)
    • aim (POINTING)
• Business   NounVerbNoun
• Examples

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

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