These words refer to the result towards which one chooses to direct one’s activity. Purpose may suggest either a resolute, deliberate movement towards a result or the desired result itself: filled with high purpose ; explaining the purpose of the tedious exercise. The specific overtone of purpose in either use is that of meaningfulness: unable to comprehend a universe without purpose ; a cruel act done on purpose . The other words in this group do not carry this implication and concentrate mostly on the desired result, rather than on the manner of moving towards it. Of these, goal is closest to purpose in suggesting a deliberately selected result that can be won only with difficulty by dedicated on choice is more invariable here than with purpose ; the latter might be supplied by someone else, but a goal suggests a personal determination: a tutorial system whose purpose was to let each student realize his own educational goal . Sometimes goal is used in a vaguer way to mean the general trend or direction a person or group takes, without implying any final result: the goal of a free democracy; asking himself what his goals in life should be.

Aim is often used in this vague way, suggesting a general tendency: the aims of education; his aim in life. In the singular, it implies a more concrete choice than goal , one that could be spelt out succinctly. When used of a desired result, aim is most appropriate for a small or short-term goal and is consequently less dramatic in tone than goal or purpose : going to Venice with the aim of seeing as many Tintorettos as possible. Aim also suggests less emotional involvement in the outcome than purpose and goal , and less determination that it will be achieved. End is more formal than the foregoing words and is most specifically appropriate to philosophical or ethical discussions: theorizing that the end of exogamy is species differentiation; the ends of a just society. Because it has other meanings that are more common, the word in this sense is often restricted to uses in which it contrasts with the manner of achieving a given goal : arguing that the end justifies the means.

Object and objective would seem too close to distinguish between, but each ahs a context in which it is the more appropriate of the two. Both are more formal than the other words of this group and are often used for impersonal planning of an abstract or general nature: the elimination of TB as the object of the campaign; economic objectives of the second five-year plan. Object would be most appropriate for an aim or goal that could be stated in a few words; objective suggests a wider, more intangible set of goals that includes a good many imponderables. Objective however, has a military use for a specific or limited goal : naming Hill 104 as our objective . Object , by contrast, nearly always suggests specificness or singleness of purpose : the object of our search; the object of his fantasy life.