Meanings
- idiomaticBy design, as opposed to by accident; intentionally; deliberately.First known use 16th c.
That wasn't an accident! You did it on purpose!
Synonyms: deliberately, intentionally, purposefully, willfully · Antonyms: by accident, on accident
- archaicIn order to (do something); with the objective that.First known use 16th c.
I send this to the town, on purpose to have it reach you by the earliest post […].
1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 2601 more example
Blifil bowed and stammered, and looked like a fool; but Western, without giving him time to form a speech for the purpose, answered, “Well, well, I am to blame, if you will, I always am, certainly; but come, let the girl be fetched back again, or let Mr Blifil go to her.——He’s come up on purpose, and there is no time to be lost.”
1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseBy design, as opposed to by accident; intentionally; deliberately.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbwith intention; in an intentional manner
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic عَمْدًا
- عَمْدًا (ʕamdan)purposely, with intention
Basque nahita
- nahitapurposely, with intention
Bulgarian наро́чно
- наро́чно (naróčno)purposely, with intention
Catalan a propòsit, expressament
- a propòsitpurposely, with intention
- expressamentpurposely, with intention
- a postapurposely, with intention
Chinese Mandarin 故意的
- 故意的 (gùyì-de)purposely, with intention
Czech schválně
- schválněpurposely, with intention
Danish med vilje, med fuldt overlæg
- med viljepurposely, with intention
- med fuldt overlægpurposely, with intention
Dutch expres, opzettelijk
- exprespurposely, with intention
- opzettelijkpurposely, with intention
- met voorbedachten radepurposely, with intention
- met opzetpurposely, with intention
Finnish tarkoituksella, tahallisesti
- tarkoituksellapurposely, with intention
- tahallisestipurposely, with intention
- tahallaanpurposely, with intention
- tarkoituksellisestipurposely, with intention
French exprès, à dessein
- exprèspurposely, with intention
- à desseinpurposely, with intention
- intentionnellementpurposely, with intention
German mit Absicht, absichtlich
- mit Absichtpurposely, with intention
- absichtlichpurposely, with intention
- vorsätzlichpurposely, with intention
- extrapurposely, with intention
- bewusstpurposely, with intention
- mit Vorbedachtpurposely, with intention
- zu Fleißpurposely, with intention
Greek επίτηδες
- επίτηδες (epítides)purposely, with intention
Hebrew דַּוְקָא
- דַּוְקָא (dávka)purposely, with intention
Hungarian szándékosan, direkt
- szándékosanpurposely, with intention
- direktpurposely, with intention
- szántszándékkalpurposely, with intention
- készakarvapurposely, with intention
Icelandic viljandi, af ásettu ráði
- viljandipurposely, with intention
- af ásettu ráðipurposely, with intention
- að yfirlögðu ráðipurposely, with intention
- vísvitandipurposely, with intention
Irish d'aon toisc
- d'aon toiscpurposely, with intention
Italian di proposito, apposta
- di propositopurposely, with intention
- appostapurposely, with intention
- intenzionalmentepurposely, with intention
Japanese 故意に, わざと
- 故意に (koi ni)purposely, with intention
- わざと (wazato)purposely, with intention
Korean 일부러
- 일부러 (ilbureo)purposely, with intention
Latin consultō
- consultōpurposely, with intention
Norwegian med vilje, med overlegg
- med viljepurposely, with intention
- med overleggpurposely, with intention
Persian عمدا, از قصد
- عمدا ('amdan)purposely, with intention
- از قصد (az qasd)purposely, with intention
- دانسته (dâneste)purposely, with intention
Polish specjalnie, celowo
- specjalniepurposely, with intention
- celowopurposely, with intention
- umyślniepurposely, with intention
- naumyślniepurposely, with intention
- z rozmysłempurposely, with intention
Portuguese de propósito, propositadamente
- de propósitopurposely, with intention
- propositadamentepurposely, with intention
- propositalmentepurposely, with intention
- intencionalmentepurposely, with intention
Romanian cu intenție, intenționat
- cu intențiepurposely, with intention
- intenționatpurposely, with intention
Russian наме́ренно, наро́чно
- наме́ренно (namérenno)purposely, with intention
- наро́чно (naróčno)purposely, with intention
- созна́тельно (soznátelʹno)purposely, with intention
- специа́льно (speciálʹno)purposely, with intention
Scottish Gaelic a dh'aon ghnothach
- a dh'aon ghnothachpurposely, with intention
Spanish adrede, adredemente
- adredepurposely, with intention
- adredementepurposely, with intention
- a propósitopurposely, with intention
- a concienciapurposely, with intention
- exprofesopurposely, with intention
- apostapurposely, with intention
Swahili kwa kusudi
- kwa kusudipurposely, with intention
Swedish med flit, med vilje
- med flitpurposely, with intention
- med viljepurposely, with intention
- med meningpurposely, with intention
- avsiktligpurposely, with intention
Turkish bilerek, bile bile
- bilerekpurposely, with intention
- bile bilepurposely, with intention
- kastenpurposely, with intention
- kasıtlıcapurposely, with intention
Ukrainian навми́сне, наро́ком
- навми́сне (navmýsne)purposely, with intention
- наро́ком (narókom)purposely, with intention
Welsh o fwriad
- o fwriadpurposely, with intention
Cite this entry
on purpose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20purpose
“on purpose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20purpose. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on purpose,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20purpose.
Source: on purpose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.