Adjacent Words

Purport definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PUR'PORT, n.
1. Design or tendency; as the purport of Plato's dialogue.
2. Meaning; import; as the purport of a word or phrase.
PUR'PORT, v.t. To intend; to intend to show.
1. To mean; to signify.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the intended meaning of a communication [syn: intent, purport, spirit]
2: the pervading meaning or tenor; "caught the general drift of the conversation" [syn: drift, purport] v
1: have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or claiming; "The letter purports to express people's opinion"
2: propose or intend; "I aim to arrive at noon" [syn: aim, purpose, purport, propose]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, content, tenor, from purporter to carry, mean, purport, from pur- thoroughly + porter to carry — more at purchase, port Date: 15th century meaning conveyed, professed, or implied ; import; also substance, gist II. transitive verb Date: 15th century 1. to have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or claiming (something implied or inferred) <a book that purports to be an objective analysis>; also claim <foreign novels which he purports to have translated — Mary McCarthy> 2. intend, purpose

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 profess; be intended to seem (purports to be the royal seal). 2 (often foll. by that + clause) (of a document or speech) have as its meaning; state. --n. 1 the ostensible meaning of something. 2 the sense or tenor (of a document or statement). Derivatives: purportedly adv. Etymology: ME f. AF & OF purport, porport f. purporter f. med.L proportare (as PRO-(1), portare carry)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Purport Pur"port, n. [OF. purport; pur, pour, for (L. pro) + porter to bear, carry. See Port demeanor.] 1. Design or tendency; meaning; import; tenor. The whole scope and purport of that dialogue. Norris. With a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell. -- Shak. 2. Disguise; covering. [Obs.] For she her sex under that strange purport Did use to hide. --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Purport Pur"port, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Purported; p. pr. & vb. n. Purporting.] [OF. purporter, pourporter. See Purport, n.] To intend to show; to intend; to mean; to signify; to import; -- often with an object clause or infinitive. They in most grave and solemn wise unfolded Matter which little purported. --Rowe.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(purports, purporting, purported) If you say that someone or something purports to do or be a particular thing, you mean that they claim to do or be that thing, although you may not always believe that claim. (FORMAL) ...a book that purports to tell the whole truth. VERB: V to-inf

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Design, meaning, signification, import, significance, drift, current, tenor, bearing, scope, sense, tendency, gist, intent, spirit. II. v. a. Intend, mean, signify, import, show, design.

Moby Thesaurus

academic, acceptation, affective meaning, aim, aim at, allege, aspire after, aspire to, avow, be after, bearing, burden, claim, coloring, connotation, consequence, core, denotation, design, desire, destine, determine, drift, drive at, effect, essence, extension, force, gist, go for, grammatical meaning, harbor a design, have every intention, idea, impact, implication, import, intend, intendment, intension, lexical meaning, literal meaning, matter, mean, meaning, meat, message, ostensible, overtone, pertinence, pith, plan, point, postulated, practical consequence, presupposed, pretend, pretended, pretext, profess, professed, project, propose, protest too much, purported, purpose, range of meaning, real meaning, reference, referent, relation, relevance, reputed, resolve, rumored, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, significance, significancy, signification, significatum, signifie, so-called, span of meaning, speculative, spirit, structural meaning, substance, sum, sum and substance, supposed, suppositional, suppositive, suspected, symbolic meaning, tenor, theoretical, think, thrust, totality of associations, transferred meaning, unadorned meaning, understanding, undertone, upshot, value