project

Etymology

From Latin prōiectus, perfect passive participle of prōiciō (“throw forth, extend; expel”).

Pronunciation

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒdʒɛkt/, (rare) /ˈpɹəʊdʒɛkt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒdʒɛkt/
• (General American) enPR: prŏjʹĕkt', prŏjʹĭkt IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑdʒˌɛkt/, /ˈpɹɑdʒɪ̈kt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑdʒɛkt/, /ˈpɹoʊdʒɛkt/

• Audio (Canada)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒdʒɛkt, -ɒdʒəkt, -ɒdʒɪkt, -oʊdʒɛkt
• Hyphenation: proj‧ect

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: prə-jĕktʹ IPA^(key): /pɹəˈdʒɛkt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (Canada)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: proj‧ect

Noun

project (plural projects)

1. A planned endeavor, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Rogers

     projects of happiness devised by human reason

   • (Can we date this quote?) Prescott

     He entered into the project with his customary ardour.

2. (usually in the plural, US) An urban low-income housing building.

   Projects like Pruitt-Igoe were considered irreparably dangerous and demolished.

3. (dated) An idle scheme; an impracticable design.

   a man given to projects

4. (obsolete) A projectile.
5. (obsolete) A projection.
6. (obsolete) The place from which a thing projects.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

Verb

project (third-person singular simple present projects, present participle projecting, simple past and past participle projected)

1. (intransitive) To extend beyond a surface.
2. (transitive) To cast (an image or shadow) upon a surface; to throw or cast forward; to shoot forth.
   • Spenser

     Before his feet herself she did project.

   • Alexander Pope

     Behold! th' ascending villas on my side / Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide.

3. (transitive) To extend (a protrusion or appendage) outward.
4. (transitive) To make plans for; to forecast.

   The CEO is projecting the completion of the acquisition by April 2007.

   • Milton

     projecting peace and war

5. (transitive, reflexive) To present (oneself), to convey a certain impression, usually in a good way.
   • 1946, Dr. Ralph S. Banay, The Milwaukee Journal, Is Modern Woman a Failure:

     It is difficult to gauge the exact point at which women stop trying to fool men and really begin to deceive themselves, but an objective analyst cannot escape the conclusion (1) that partly from a natural device inherent in the species, women deliberately project upon actual or potential suitors an impression of themselves that is not an accurate picture of their total nature, and (2) that few women ever are privileged to see themselves as they really are.

6. (transitive, psychology, psychoanalysis) To assume qualities or mindsets in others based on one's own personality.
7. (cartography) To change the projection (or coordinate system) of spatial data with another projection.

References

• “project” in John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

project n (plural projecten, diminutive projectje n)

1. project (planned endeavor)