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ON PURPOSE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
With intention; in an intentional manner
Example:
I did this by choice
Synonyms:
advisedly; by choice; by design; deliberately; designedly; intentionally; on purpose; purposely
Classified under:
Context examples:
Sometimes doctors use drugs or other agents to cause hepatic arterial occlusion on purpose.
(Hepatic arterial occlusion, NCI Dictionary)
"She has screamed out on purpose," declared Abbot, in some disgust.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Her assurance, however, standing sole as it did, was not thrown away; it brought a more cordial, more natural smile into his countenance, and he replied in a tone which retained only a little affected reserve: We were much obliged to you at any rate for wishing us a pleasant walk after our passing you in Argyle Street: you were so kind as to look back on purpose.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
That was what she most earnestly desired: go and take his sister with him, as he was to do, and as he returned to Mansfield on purpose to do.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
He came to the Abbey two evenings ago, on purpose to consult me about it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Here I am, on purpose to bid you, and you fly off to Yarmouth!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When people come in this manner on purpose to ask us, how can one say no?
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
We dressed up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes on purpose to pass for a lady, only think what fun!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Another farmer, who lived hard by, and was a particular friend of my master, came on a visit on purpose to inquire into the truth of this story.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
"I came on purpose to find you, Jane Eyre," said she; "I want you in my room; and as Helen Burns is with you, she may come too."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
