1. Home
2. Idioms
3. on purpose

on purpose

---

---

on purpose

intentionally; in a way that is meant or intended; not an accident. The bully stepped on my foot on purpose. Jealously, Jimmy destroyed Billy's sand castle on purpose.

See also: on, purpose

on purpose

intentionally The idiot who set the fire on purpose is in jail, but that doesn't help the families who lost their homes.

See also: on, purpose

on purpose

1. Deliberately, intentionally, as in He left the photo out of the story on purpose. Shakespeare's use of this idiom was among the earliest; it appears in The Comedy of Errors (4:3): "On purpose shut the doors against his way."

2. accidentally on purpose. Seemingly accidentally but actually deliberately, as in She stepped on his foot accidentally on purpose. This generally jocular phrase was first recorded in 1862.

See also: on, purpose

on purpose

Intentionally; deliberately.

See also: on, purpose