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 alright allright video
Alright vs. All Right

 

Is 'alright' all right?

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

 

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut

play serial comma
The Serial Comma Explained

 

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

play video mischievous nulcear library mispronunciations
'Mispronunciations' That May Be Fine

 

'Mischievous,' 'nuclear,' and other words to pronounce with caution.

play video between you and i or me
I vs. Me

 

'Between you and __'? Simple guidance for a tricky pronoun.

play onomatopoeia video
A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

 

Some imitative words are more surprising than others