Library / English Dictionary

PURPORT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The pervading meaning or tenor

Example:

caught the general drift of the conversation

Synonyms:

drift; purport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("purport" is a kind of...):

strain; tenor (the general meaning or substance of an utterance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The intended meaning of a communication

Synonyms:

intent; purport; spirit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("purport" is a kind of...):

import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)

Derivation:

purport (propose or intend)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Propose or intend

Example:

I aim to arrive at noon

Synonyms:

aim; propose; purport; purpose

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "purport" is one way to...):

intend; mean; think (have in mind as a purpose)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

purport (the intended meaning of a communication)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or claiming

Example:

The letter purports to express people's opinion

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "purport" is one way to...):

claim (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They purport to move

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This allele has purported roles in host protection from inflammatory responses, and susceptibility to virus and parasite invasion.

(CCR1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Coming as he did from such a purport fulfilled as had taken him away, he would have expected anything rather than a look of satisfaction, and words of simple, pleasant meaning.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The principal purport of his letter was to inform them that Mr. Wickham had resolved on quitting the militia.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The purported mechanism(s) of action is unclear due to the complexity of the herbal mixture.

(Arnebia Indigo Jade Pearl Topical Cream, NCI Thesaurus)

I have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to dissemble; my attentions have been too marked to be mistaken.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

This is what I said, the purport of it; but, as you may imagine, not spoken so collectedly or methodically as I have repeated it to you.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The signatures to this instrument purporting to be executed by Mr. W. and attested by Wilkins Micawber, are forgeries by—HEEP.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yet such must be the impression conveyed to you by what appears to be the purport of my actions. Yet I seek not a fellow feeling in my misery. No sympathy may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being overflowed, that I wished to be participated. But now that virtue has become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy? I am content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure; when I die, I am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory. Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding. I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and devotion. But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine. When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)