play person studying illustration

'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'?

We're intent on clearing it up


Is the phrase 'for all intensive purposes' or 'for all intents and purposes'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.

Transcript

Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word, and feels like the right word, isn't actually the right word. It's an eggcorn.

If something has the same effect or result as another thing, it's not "for all intensive purposes" the same as that other thing, it's for all intents and purposes the same. It shares the same aim as the other thing, so it has the same effect or result.

Up next

play woman and dog illustration
'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?

 

We're gonna stop you right there

play calendar that says day today
Is It 'day today' or 'day-to-day'?

 

What about Day Tomorrow?

play video soup vs soop
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

 

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut

play video title words of the year 1066
Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest

play onomatopoeia video
A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

 

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

play videos pictures in the dictionary
Pictures in the Dictionary

 

The story of those iconic illustrations.