target
Syllables: tar·get/ˈtɑː.ɡɪt//ˈtɑɹ.ɡɪt/
target noun: a butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.
Noun
target (plural targets)
- A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.
- Take careful aim at the target.
- A goal or objective.
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising...2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
- They have a target to finish the project by November.
- An object of criticism or ridicule.
- A person, place, or thing that is frequently attacked, criticized, or ridiculed.
- A kind of small shield or buckler, used as a defensive weapon in war.
- These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target, thus.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- A shield resembling the Roman scutum, larger than the modern buckler.
- The Target (x) or Buckler (y) was carried by the heavy armed foot, it anſwered to the ſcutum of the Romans; its form was ſometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had its bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in its breadth.1786, Francis Grose, “Tilting Armour”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 25
- A bearing representing a buckler.
- The fourth field is also party per pale, and for the dutchy of Genevois, contains chequered Or and azure: The sinister for the dutchy of Montserat, a target, gules. The point Or is a black eagle of the county of Maurienne.1762, Anton Friedrich Büsching, A New System of Geography: In which is Given, a General Account of the Situation and Limits, the Manners, History, and Constitution, of the Several Kingdoms and States...
- The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.
- He made a good target.
- The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.
- A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.
- the number of runs that the side batting last needs to score in the final innings in order to win
- The tenor of a metaphor.
Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- The codomain of a function; the object at which a morphism points.
- Coordinate term: source
- The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.
- Do you charge by source or target?
- Synonyms:
- target language
- A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.
- Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
- A thin cut; a slice; specifically, of lamb, a piece consisting of the neck and breast joints.
- A tassel or pendant.
- Synonyms:
- targe
- A shred; a tatter.
- A system or platform for which software is developed.
Verb
target (third-person singular simple present targets, present participle targeting or (rare) targetting, simple past and past participle targeted or (rare) targetted)
- To aim something, especially a weapon, at (a target).
- To aim for as an audience or demographic.
- The advertising campaign targeted older women.
- To produce code suitable for.
- This cross-platform compiler can target any of several processors.
target meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
target in Hindi
- butt or mark to shoot at
- निशाना niśānā
- goal or objective
- निशाना niśānā, हदफ़ hadaf
target in Tamil
- இலக்கு, குறி, நோக்கு, இலக்கம், குறி வை
target in Marathi
- target
- लक्ष्य lakṣya, निशाण niśāṇ, ध्येय dhyey
target in Urdu
- butt or mark to shoot at
- نِشانَہ niśāna
- goal or objective
- نِشانَہ niśāna, ہَدَف hadaf
- to aim something (especially a weapon) at a target
- نشانہ لگانا niśānā lagānā
More languagesFewer languages
- target in Bengali
- লক্ষ্যবস্তু lokkkhobostu
- target in Malayalam
- ലക്ഷ്യം lakṣyaṁ, ലക്ഷ്യം വയ്ക്കുക lakṣyaṁ vaykkuka
- target in Kannada
- ಗುರಿ, ಕರು, ಚೂಟಿ, ಈಡು
- target in Punjabi
- ٹیچا ṭīcā
- target in Sinhala
- ඉලක්කය ilakkaya
- target in Pashto
- نشانه nešāna, هدف hadaf
- target in Tagalog
- tigpo
- target in Arabic
- دَرِيئَة darīʔa, نِيشَان nīšān, هَدَف hadaf, مَرْمًى marman
- target in Malay
- sasaran
- target in Persian
- سیبل sibl, آماج âmâj, هدف hadaf, درقه darqe
- target in Thai
- เป้าหมาย bpâo-mǎai
- target in Vietnamese
- bia, mục tiêu
Examples of target in a sentence
- The deer jumped the string, so the archer missed his target.
- On the quarterback's first read of the situation, his target receiver was not open.
- He aimed at the target, but the arrow flew straight over it.
Synonyms of target
Forms of target
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | targets |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | targets |
| present participle | targeting |
| past participle | targeted |
| past | targeted |
| present participle (rare) | targetting |
| past participle (rare) | targetted |
| past (rare) | targetted |
Origin of target
From Middle French targette, targuete, diminutive of targe (“light shield”), from Old French, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), akin to Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)), Spanish tarjeta (“card”).
Words formed from target
- antitarget
- apotarget
- autotarget
- biotarget
- digital target
- digitized target
- drop target
- easy target
- erotic target location error
- geotarget
- high-value target
- hypertarget
- immunotarget
- microtarget
- mistarget
- moving target
- multitarget
- non-target
- nontarget
- non-target-like
- off-target
- off target
- oncotarget
- on target
- phosphotarget
- point target
- pretarget
- retarget
- running target
- shot on target
- soft target
- spoke target
- stretch target
- subtarget
- target audience
- target cell
- target control
- target domain
- targeteer
- targeter
- target for tonight
- target girl
- target group
- targeting
- targetless
- target letter
- targetlike
- target-like
- target man
- target market
- target marketing
- target of opportunity
- targetoid
- targetome
- target practice
- target range
- target rating point
- target text
- target timing
- treat-to-target
Phrases with target
- target men
- target cells
- target girls
- target texts
- target groups
- target ranges
- target domains
- target letters
- target markets
- shots on target
- target controls
- target language
4 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with target
Questions about target
- What does target mean?
- Target means a butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.
- What is target in Hindi?
- Target in Hindi is निशाना (niśānā), हदफ़ (hadaf). See Target meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is target?
- Target can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce target?
- Target is pronounced /ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of target?
- The plural of target is targets.
Words near target in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: target (page history and authors); target (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ध्येय (Marathi) (page history and authors); লক্ষ্যবস্তু (Bengali) (page history and authors); target (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ٹیچا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ඉලක්කය (Sinhala) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-target.wav, en-us-target.ogg, en-au-target.ogg.
Cite this entry: “target.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/target. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.