What does "All Intents and Purposes" Mean?
You may note the phrase, for all intents and purposes or to all intents and purposes, used in a variety of circumstances. It tends to mean: under most usual circumstances, in most practical situations, or for purposes that are practical. Another interpretation could be in practical situations.
The phrase originated in legal language in the 1500s, and it may have been first used in court cases in England. The initial wording may have been “to all intents, constructions and purposes,” instead of all intents and purposes. Some point out that pluralizing intent is unnecessary since the word can be singular or plural without an “s” at the end. You can say “his intent” or “their intent.”
A possible use of the phrase in the modern sense could be the following. Say you’re interviewing for a job and the boss wants to hire you. She might say, “We still need to check your references, but for all intents and purposes, the job is yours.” Provided your references are fine, you’ve landed a job and under practical considerations, you can consider yourself employed.
Unfortunately, the phrase has gotten a little more complicated because of the numerous misquotes or malapropisms that are used in its place. One common substitution to “for all intents and purposes” is “for all intensive purposes.” This is very commonly used, and it means something almost directly opposite to the original phrase’s meaning of “for practical purposes.”
If the person who was just about hired for a job “for all intensive purposes,” one could argue that that person had just been hired for work in an emergency room or an intensive care unit. The person could only be considering the prospect of a job under intensive or highly intense situations. Now this is probably not what the speaker means, but it deliberately corrupts the meaning of the original phrase.
Another malapropism associated with “for all intents and purposes” is “for all intense and purposes.” This really doesn’t make sense because intense is an adjective and doesn’t pair up with the noun, purposes. Some people try to fix this by saying “for all intense purposes,” and this again will create problems since it is in direct conflict to the original meaning.
Though some modern online dictionaries are now defining “for all intensive purposes” as an idiomatic expression that means “for all intents and purposes,” it still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Even in its original form, the phrase is somewhat redundant. Intents and purposes are basically similar words in definition and it may be wise to simply avoid the phrase altogether. However if you do plan to use it in writing or speaking, use it correctly so your meaning remains clear.
Written by Tricia Ellis-Christensen
