telos

T1E1L1O1S1
/ˈtiː.lɒs//ˈtɛ.lɒs/

noun

The aim, purpose, or end goal.

UncommonScrabble 5

Meanings

nountelos (plural teloses or teloi or tele or telea)

plural teloses · plural teloi · plural tele · plural telea

  1. metaphysicsThe aim, purpose, or end goal.

    the collapsing of bios and technos into each other is not only politically naive, producing a completely reified grand narrative of technology as the true agent and telos of natural and (in)human history

    Keith Ansell-Pearson, quoted in 2014, Paul D. Miller, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Svitlana Matviyenko, The Imaginary App (page 94)
    2 more examples

    But confusion persists because of the more contentious issue between the technos and the telos of music and art making in general, the instruments versus the purposes to which they are put, the means and the ends.

    2005, Mathew Callahan, The Trouble with Music, page 83

    In Lewis' view, such societies are cut off from an appreciation of the past, committed to the utopian ideal of unlimited progress, self-satisfied, concerned with technos rather than telos, and skeptical about reason.

    2016, Justin Buckley Dyer, Micah J. Watson, C. S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law, page 110

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekτέλος
  2. Englishtelos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τέλος (télos).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic غَايَة
  • غَايَة (ḡāya)aim
Persian غایت
  • غایت (ġâyat)aim

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

telos. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telos

MLA

“telos.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telos. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telos,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telos.

Source: telos on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.