to aim at
- phrasal verb
- /eɪm æt/
- Additionally, colleges and universities increasingly are developing and funding programs specifically aimed at student retention.
- aimed at improving
- aimed at helping
- aimed at reducing
It's what faith was aiming at, what Enlightenment said.
- It's what faith was aiming at, what Enlightenment said.
- So what should you be aiming at if not physical things?
- It is a kind of aiming at revenge, right?
- Now the brand is aimed at teenagers, no doubt.
- But you know, there is the, the, the industry aimed at musicians.
- And all of these things are aimed at that objective.
- NSDR and yoga nidra are aimed at deep relaxation.
- And I like to think that that was aimed at me and that makes me happy.
- That's what people like Musk are trying to aim at, you know, however imperfectly.
- So I think the question was more aimed at what what happens after one shot.
- Same thing as when you aim at something and you look around.
- Where is that that center of you and what's it aiming at kind of thing?
- There are so many journalistic products that are aimed at highly educated, affluent people.
Examples
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Business development can facilitate infrastructure enhancements aimed at continuously improving the level and quality of services.
Academic text (2011) -
A lot of car commercials are aimed at younger people.
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So we'll try to and we'll aim at six or seven in a day.
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So what should you be aiming at if not physical things?
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We have two projects that are aimed at growing young journalists.
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Much of the research into school libraries is aimed at proving that students benefit from them.
Academic text (2011) -
That's what people like Musk are trying to aim at, you know, however imperfectly.
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To establish a safe school environment, prevention measures aimed at empowering bystanders can be highly effective.
Academic text (2011) -
But Dispute Finder represents an emerging class of tools aimed at making the Web more reliable and credible.
Academic text (2011) -
The organization is aiming at increasing access to education for underprivileged children.
Synonyms
Intend to talk about someone or something
Plan to do something in the future
Try to find or get something you want
To try hard to get better at or finish something over time
To try to get something you want by making an effort
To plan to do something to reach a goal
To work very hard to reach a goal
To start doing something with a clear aim
To want very much to achieve an important goal
To try to reach a goal
To try to reach a big, difficult goal
Direct attention, effort, or criticism toward a target
Plan to get something you want, like a job or prize
How Focused
Surface Forms
Morphology
aim + at
The meaning 'to intend to achieve something' is directly derivable from combining 'aim' (to intend or target) with the preposition 'at' (indicating target or direction). This target-directed compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard verb + preposition semantics, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Aim at comes from the simple image of pointing a bow, gun, or arrow: you aim something at a target. So it now means to 'intend' to reach a 'goal' or to focus effort on something.