project

Noun

project (plural projects)

1. A planned endeavor, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages.
   • projects of happiness devised by human reasona. 1729, John Rogers, The Greatness of the Gospel Salvation
   • Rainbow, […]came forward enthusiastically to put its money into the project in sums which ran all the way from one share at ten dollars to ten shares1924, Clarence Budington Kelland, The Steadfast Heart/Chapter 22

   Synonyms:

   plan, blueprint, design, plot, proposal, scheme

2. (US, plural-normally) An urban, low-income housing building.
   • Projects like Pruitt-Igoe were considered irreparably dangerous and demolished.
   • Experiments when needles and skin connect / No wonder where we live is called the projects1996, “Stakes is High”, in Stakes Is High, performed by De La Soul

   Synonyms:

   council estate, scheme

3. (dated) An idle scheme; an impracticable design.
   • a man given to projects

   Synonyms:

   Tower of Babel

4. (US) A raw recruit who the team hopes will improve greatly with coaching; a long shot, diamond in the rough.
   • Sakho was seen as no-frills, whereas Maiga was a project who could develop into the next big thing.2014 October 27, Gabriele Marcotti, “Ancelotti triumphs, van Gaal's progress, Dortmund disappoint, more”, in ESPN FC
   • Elway acknowledged at the time that Lynch was a project who needed some seasoning but he expressed hope that Lynch might be a quick study. He wasn't.2018 September 2, Arnie Melendrez Stapleton, “Broncos cut ties with 2016 first-round pick QB Lynch”, in WNYT
5. (obsolete) A projectile.

   Synonyms:

   missile

6. (obsolete) A projection.

   Synonyms:

   protuberance, protrusion

Verb

UK/pɹəˈd͡ʒɛkt/Australia/pɹəˈd͡ʒekt/

project (third-person singular simple present projects, present participle projecting, simple past and past participle projected)

1. (intransitive) To extend beyond a surface.

   Synonyms:

   extend, jut, protrude, stick out

2. (transitive) To cast (an image or shadow) upon a surface; to throw or cast forward; to shoot forth.
   • Before his feet her selfe she did proiect1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 45
   • Behold! th' ascending villas on my side / Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide.1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   cast, throw, bung, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck, fling

3. (transitive) To extend (a protrusion or appendage) outward.

   Synonyms:

   extend, jut, jut out, exsert

4. (transitive) To make plans for; to forecast.
   • The CEO is projecting the completion of the acquisition by April 2007.
   • To form a strict alliance between the cabinets of Paris and London—which meant, that he should influence both,—to induce Charles to marry the loveliest of his nieces, Hortense—thus making a common interest between them, were now the great objects with the Cardinal; and the present visit was of his...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 172

   Synonyms:

   forecast, foresee, foretell

5. (reflexive, transitive) To present (oneself), to convey a certain impression, usually in a good way.
   • It is difficult to gauge the exact point at which women stop trying to fool men and really begin to deceive themselves, but an objective analyst cannot escape the conclusion (1) that partly from a natural device inherent in the species, women deliberately project upon actual or potential suitors an...1946, Dr. Ralph S. Banay, The Milwaukee Journal, Is Modern Woman a Failure
6. (transitive) To assume qualities or mindsets in others based on one's own personality.
7. To change the projection (or coordinate system) of spatial data with another projection.
8. To draw straight lines from a fixed point through every point of any body or figure, and let these fall upon a surface so as to form the points of a new figure.
9. (of a neuron or group of neurons) to have axon(s) extending to and therefore able to influence a remote location
10. (transitive) To cause (one's voice or words) to be heard at a great distance.
    • to project one's voice
11. (intransitive) To speak or sing in such a way that one can be heard at a great distance.
    • You would think that topic coulda put me to sleep, but HE can really project when HE wants to.2016, Sam Esmail, Courtney Looney, Mr. Robot: Red Wheelbarrow: eps1.91_redwheelbarr0w.txt, Abrams Books, New York City, →ISBN
12. (figuratively, transitive) To extend to reach a point.
    • When a word occurs only in Indo-European languages of northern or western Europe, for instance, projecting that word back to Proto-Indo-European is considered dubious.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 27