Definition of: intention

(in·ten′shən) noun
1. A settled direction of the mind toward the doing of a certain act.
2. That upon which the mind is set or which it wishes to express or achieve; meaning; purpose conceived.
3. plural Colloq. Purpose with regard to marriage.
4. Law An intelligent purpose to do a criminal act; intent; purpose: an essential element in a criminal offense.
5. Med. Natural course, operation, or process, as in the healing of a wound.
6. Logic In scholasticism: a First intention, a general concept of an object, kind of object, or notion formed from something outside the mind, as man, house, integrity, word, to run. b Second intention, a general concept formed from or extended to abstractions of other concepts of objects and their relationships, as genus and species, property, ethics, language and meaning, physiological functions. Compare CONSTRUCT noun (def. 2).
7. Eccl. a The inward intent or purpose on the part of the minister of a sacrament to do what the church requires to be done: considered essential to the validity of a sacrament. b The purpose for which a person offers up prayers or other devotions: often with special or particular.
8. Earnest attention; application. See synonyms under AIM, DESIGN, PURPOSE. [<OF entencion <L intentio, -onis]