How to use intention in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Intention means a course of action that a person intends to follow. Example: “My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.”

Examples of intention by meaning

nounA course of action that a person intends to follow.

My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.
Hell is paved with good intentions.
“I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

nounA goal or purpose.

The intention of this legislation is to boost the economy.
Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History...

nounA process of the healing of a wound.

When healing occurs by primary intention, the wound is basically closed with all areas of the wound connecting and healing simultaneously.2007, Carie Ann Braun, Cindy Miller Anderson, Pathophysiology: Functional Alterations in Human Health, page 49

More sentences with intention

Eventually, the intention was that they should affranchise all the slaves.From the entry affranchise
I'm sorry if I came off as condescending; that wasn't my intention.From the entry come off
Behind the smile was a cruel intention.From the entry behind
The man's demeanor made others suspicious of his intentions.From the entry demeanor
The staff was even more pressed for useful intelligence about the enemy's intentions than it was about the enemy's capabilities.From the entry pressed
Some judges set unaffordably high bail at times with the intention of keeping suspected criminals in prison pending trial.From the entry unaffordably
He loaded the gun with bad intentions in mind.From the entry in mind
I have reservations about your intentions.From the entry reservation
Adam Smith claimed that a capitalist is, quote, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention, unquote.From the entry quote unquote
A large proportion of the females employed in other firms are said to have signified their intention of going on strike, failing a settlement.From the entry failing
He has intentions on your daughter.From the entry intentions
You grip your splash for fashion—me and you, we ain’t got the same intentions.2021 August 13, #CO CMoney, “Don’t Ask”, 2:51–2:53. From the entry splash
However, they might end up meeting with users who have bad intentions, potential catfish.2020, Mariah Simmons, Joon Suk Lee, “Catfishing: A Look into Online Dating and Impersonation”, in Gabriele Meiselwitz, editor, Social…. From the entry catfish
In the beginning, this level of secrecy was never the intention, but it has since become habitual.2020 February 17, Karen Hao, “The messy, secretive reality behind OpenAI’s bid to save the world”, in MIT Technology Review. From the entry AGI
He had joined the police force with the intention of being a bent copper.2019, Alan Jacobs, Me? I Kill People, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 298. From the entry bent copper
But the big man later reaffirmed his intentions on The Ringer NBA Show with Kevin O'Connor.2018 January 11, Mike O'Connor, “Sixers Set of the Week: A brief history of Joel Embiid playing point guard”, in The Athletic, archived…. From the entry deadass
Despite their good intentions, family members who participate in OCD rituals help reinforce the problem.2017, Christine Honders, OCD: The Struggle with Obsessions and Compulsions, page 44. From the entry ritual
But his style seems to work against any intention to humanise his subjects.2015 August 19, Sean O'Hagan, “A latter-day freak show? Bruce Gilden’s extreme portraits are relentlessly cruel”, in The Guardian, London…. From the entry latter-day
Attitudes based on connation (intentions and actions) usually result from personal experience or behavioral intent.2015, Geoffrey Paul Lantos, Consumer Behavior in Action. From the entry connation
I'll leave aside the implications of connecting a 'general theory of intention' with 'extenuatives', that is, excuses.2014, B. Garvey, J. L. Austin on Language. From the entry extenuative
People are going out with the intention of drinking to excess.2013 September 2, Brian Reay, “Re: Supermarket powers”, in uk.food+drink.misc (Usenet). From the entry pre-lash
Maybe I was afraid that verbalising my intentions would jinx it in some way.2012, Sally Heinrich, Hungry Ghosts, Hachette UK, →ISBN. From the entry jinx
The original intention for pies was a self-contained unit of food.2012, Millicent Souris, How to Build a Better Pie. From the entry hand pie
The belief in winnability led to a Soviet Union intention to install missiles in Cuba.2012, Allen R. Wells, The Winter Count, page 99. From the entry winnability
He'd have to be a dog-hearted barnacle not to taste your good intentions.2012, Erin Knightley, A Taste For Scandal. From the entry dog-hearted
Shame!’), could trigger an urge for retribution regardless of her intention.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, page 610. From the entry actus reus
It takes conscious effort to live a day of clear intention.2011, Margaret J. Shepherd, The Visionbuilders' Manual: 9 Steps To Panoramic Success For Your Company, Career or Cause, Morgan James…. From the entry squeaky wheel system
I've been visiting a couple of featherwoods, all bad tattoos and twisted intentions.2010, Kenneth E. Hartman, Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars, page 68. From the entry featherwood
To calumniate is to accuse falsely with the perlocutionary intention to mislead and "misaccuse"2009, Daniel Vanderveken, Meaning and Speech Acts: Volume 1, Principles of Language Use, →ISBN. From the entry misaccuse
"I have no intention of spending another plug nickel on it."2006 April 24, Steve Schultze, “Dolphins in mural could be rescued”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, retrieved 28 Sep 2008. From the entry plug nickel
The hearer's recognition of the speaker's locutionary intention is also an important felicity condition of Austinian exercitives.2003, Mary Kathryn McGowan, “Conversational Exercitives and the Force of Pornography”, in Philosophy & Public Affairs, volume 31, number…. From the entry exercitive
Insomnia worsened, severe anxiety, anorexia, (weight loss 17kgs,) increase in suicidal thougts, plans, and intention.2002, Sarah Kane, 4.48 Psychosis, Methuen, →ISBN, page 21. From the entry sertraline
But whatever his intentions, let us understand omnipercipience to include perfect and unlimited powers of empathy.2002, Michael Martin, Atheism, Morality, and Meaning, page 58. From the entry omnipercipience
I can see that your intentions are to contradict the fantrolls that come in here spreading misinfo.2002 June 26, xslacks, “Is it just me or.....”, in microsoft.public.xbox (Usenet), retrieved 24 Dec 2021. From the entry fantroll

Meaning of intention

noun A course of action that a person intends to follow.
noun A goal or purpose.
noun Tension; straining, stretching.

Full definition of intention

Questions about intention in a sentence

How do you use intention in a sentence?: Intention is used as a noun and verb. For example: “My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.”
What is a short sentence with intention?: “He has intentions on your daughter.”
What does intention mean?: Intention means a course of action that a person intends to follow.

Adapted from Wiktionary: intention (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use intention in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/intention. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.