Usually means: Intentional and goal-directed behavior.
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We found 21 dictionaries that define the word purposive:

General (19 matching dictionaries)
  1. purposive: Merriam-Webster
  2. purposive: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. purposive: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. purposive: Collins English Dictionary
  5. purposive: Vocabulary.com
  6. purposive: Wordnik
  7. purposive: Wiktionary
  8. purposive: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  9. purposive: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  10. purposive: Infoplease Dictionary
  11. Purposive, purposive: Dictionary.com
  12. Purposive: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  13. Purposive: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
  14. purposive: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
  15. purposive: Rhymezone
  16. Purposive: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  17. purposive: FreeDictionary.org
  18. purposive: Mnemonic Dictionary
  19. purposive: TheFreeDictionary.com

Business (1 matching dictionary)
  1. purposive: Legal dictionary

Medicine (1 matching dictionary)
  1. online medical dictionary (No longer online)

(Note: See purposively as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (purposive)

adjective:  Serving a particular purpose; adapted to a given purpose, especially through natural evolution.
adjective:  Done or performed with a conscious purpose or intent.
adjective:  (psychology) Pertaining to purpose, as reflected in behaviour or mental activity.
adjective:  Pertaining to or demonstrating purpose.
adjective:  Possessed of a firm purpose.
adjective:  (grammar) Of a clause or conjunction: expressing purpose.
noun:  (grammar) A mood indicating a purpose of the course of activity expressed by the verb.

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    indigo,     teal,     emerald,     maroon,     burgundy, more...



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