{
  "id": "function.purpose",
  "term": "function",
  "sense": "purpose",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 10,
  "arena": "concept",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "the purpose a thing is for",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "purpose.goal",
      "property.attribute"
    ],
    "interaction": "the purpose together with a property together do what a thing is for",
    "novel_properties": [
      "intended use",
      "role",
      "meaning"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station maintains electrical power through solar arrays that rotate to track the sun.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Bees pollinate almond trees in California's Central Valley each February, enabling commercial nut production.",
      "domain": "agriculture"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Federal Reserve raises interest rates to slow inflation and stabilize the US dollar's purchasing power.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "purpose.goal",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": "a function is a kind of purpose"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "collapse.failure",
    "furniture.home",
    "institute.organization",
    "stress.condition"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "function",
    "functioned",
    "functioning",
    "functions"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-function.purpose"
}