Word.ws English Dictionary

aim

/eɪm/

aim noun: the pointing of a weapon, as a gun, a dart, or an arrow, or object, in the line of direction with the object intended to be struck; the line of fire; the direction of anything, such as a spear, a blow, a discourse, a remark, towards a particular point or object, with a view to strike or affect it. Also the initialism of America Online AIM.

Noun (1)

aim (plural aims)

  1. The pointing of a weapon, as a gun, a dart, or an arrow, or object, in the line of direction with the object intended to be struck; the line of fire; the direction of anything, such as a spear, a blow, a discourse, a remark, towards a particular point or object, with a view to strike or affect it.
    • to take aim
    • Take time with the aim of your gun.
  2. The level of accuracy of a weapon.
    • A rifle has more precise aim than a shotgun.
  3. The point intended to be hit, or object intended to be attained or affected.
  4. Intention or goal.
    • My number one aim in life is to make money to make my parents, siblings, and kids happy.
    • There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery, and just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while Humanity will be amusing itself, or enjoying cultivated leisure—which, and not labour, is the aim of man—or making beautiful things, or reading beautiful things, or...1891 February, Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”, in The Fortnightly Review, volume 49, number 290, page 303
  5. The ability of someone to aim straight; one’s faculty for being able to hit a physical target.
    • The police officer has excellent aim, always hitting the bullseye in shooting practice.
    • He has a bad aim, so he decided to join archery classes.
  6. (obsolete) Conjecture; guess.
    • What you would work me to, I have some aim.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Verb (1)

aim (third-person singular simple present aims, present participle aiming, simple past and past participle aimed)

  1. (intransitive) To point or direct a missile, or a weapon which propels as missile, towards an object or spot with the intent of hitting it
    • He aimed at the target, but the arrow flew straight over it.
  2. (intransitive) To direct the intention or purpose; to attempt the accomplishment of a purpose; to try to gain; to endeavor;—followed by at, or by an infinitive
    • to aim at a pass
    • to aim to do well in life
  3. (transitive) To direct or point (e.g. a weapon), at a particular object; to direct, as a missile, an act, or a proceeding, at, to, or against an object
    • to aim an arrow at the deer
    • She aimed a punch at her ex-boyfriend.
    Synonyms:
    point
  4. (transitive) To direct (something verbal) towards a certain person, thing, or group
    • to aim a satirical comment at Communists in general
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To guess or conjecture.
    • But, good my lord, do it so cunningly / That my discovery be not aimed at;c. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 3, scene 1, lines 44–45

Proper noun capitalized: AIM

AIM

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Agape International Missions.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Asteroid Impact Mission.
  3. (Internet, abbreviation, historical, initialism) Initialism of AOL Instant Messenger.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, a NASA satellite.
  5. (UK) AIM, the secondary stock market of the London Stock Exchange; formerly an initialism of Alternative Investment Market.
  6. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Indian Movement.
    • There are Schimmel Sister stickers, and Navajo Nation stickers, Cherokee Nation stickers, Idle No More, and AIM flags duct-taped to antennas.2018, Tommy Orange, “Interlude”, in There There, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 136

Noun (2) capitalized: AIM

AIM (plural AIMs)

  1. (US, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of air intercept missile.

Verb (2) capitalized: AIM

AIM (third-person singular simple present AIMs, present participle AIMing, simple past and past participle AIMed)

  1. (Internet, ambitransitive, historical, informal) To talk to (someone) via the instant messaging service AIM (AOL Instant Messenger; 1997–2017); to send (someone) a message via this service.
    • Um, alrighty then. Marcus likes me, we AIMed earlier and had really good cybersex. =Þ1998 July 14, The Unholy Priest Rubicant, “My God, no!!”, in alt.games.final-fantasy (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026
    • I am not on AOL but I do have AIM. My AIM name is sparkieee2 so whenever I am on, feel free to AIM me.1999 January 28, Kim Wild, “AOL Friends/Chat/Support”, in alt.med.fibromyalgia (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026

Also used as

aim is also the initialism of America Online AIM.

aim meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

aim in Hindi

point intended to be hit
लक्ष्य lakṣya
intention; purpose
उद्देश्य uddeśya, इरादा irādā, लक्ष्य lakṣya
to point or direct a missile weapon
साधना sādhnā

aim in Tamil

pointing of a weapon towards a particular point or object
குறி kuṟi
point intended to be hit
குறி kuṟi, இலக்கு ilakku
intention; purpose
குறிக்கோள் kuṟikkōḷ, நோக்கம் nōkkam
to point or direct a missile weapon
குறி வை kuṟi vai

aim in Bengali

intention; purpose
মকসদ mokśod

aim in Telugu

point intended to be hit
లక్ష్యము lakṣyamu
More languagesFewer languages
aim in Malayalam
ലക്ഷ്യം lakṣyaṁ, ഉന്നം unnaṁ
aim in Sanskrit
अर्थ artha
aim in Arabic
هَدَف hadaf
aim in Malay
tujuan
aim in Indonesian
tujuan, bidik, membidik
aim in Thai
เล็ง leng
aim in Vietnamese
ngắm, nhắm

Examples of aim in a sentence

  • He aimed the gun at him and he held his hands up in surrender.
  • They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
  • “The Norm Chronicles”[…]aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:

All 40 example sentences with aim

Synonyms of aim

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of aim

Forms of aim

Noun
pluralaims
pluralAIMs
Verb
third-person singular presentaims
present participleaiming
past participleaimed
pastaimed
third-person singular presentAIMs
present participleAIMing
past participleAIMed
pastAIMed

Past tense of aim: aimed

Plural of aim: aims

Origin of aim

The verb is from Middle English amen, aimen, eimen (“to guess at, to estimate, to aim”), borrowed from Old French esmer, aesmer, asmer, from Latin ad- plus aestimare (“to estimate”), the compound perhaps being originally formed in Medieval Latin (adaestimare), perhaps in Old French. The noun is from Middle English ame, from Old French aesme, esme.

Words formed from aim

Phrases with aim

Words that rhyme with aim

37 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about aim

What does aim mean?
Aim means the pointing of a weapon, as a gun, a dart, or an arrow, or object, in the line of direction with the object intended to be struck; the line of fire; the direction of anything, such as a spear, a blow, a discourse, a remark, towards a particular point or object, with a view to strike or affect it.
What is aim in Hindi?
Aim in Hindi is लक्ष्य (lakṣya), उद्देश्य (uddeśya), इरादा (irādā). See Aim meaning in Hindi.
How do you use aim in a sentence?
He aimed the gun at him and he held his hands up in surrender.
What part of speech is aim?
Aim can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce aim?
Aim is pronounced /eɪm/.
What is the plural of aim?
The plural of aim is aims.

Words near aim in the dictionary

  1. ailurophobias
  2. ailurophobic
  3. ailuropodin
  4. ailuropodine
  5. ailuropodins
  6. aim
  7. aim assist
  8. aim at
  9. aim community
  10. aim for the sky
  11. aim for the stars

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aim (page history and authors); AIM (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-aim.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-aim.wav.

Cite this entry: “aim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.