teleological \tel-ee-uh-LAH-jih-kul\ adjective : exhibiting or relating to design or purpose especially in nature

Example sentence: "What is the true purpose of life's voyage?" wrote John R. Illingworth in 1907, posing what he termed "the great teleological question."

Did you know? "Teleological" (which comes to us by way of New Latin from the Greek root "tele-, telos," meaning "end or purpose") and its close relative "teleology" both entered English in the 18th century, followed by "teleologist" in the 19th century. "Teleology" has the basic meaning "the study of ends or purposes." A teleologist attempts to understand the purpose of something by looking at its results. A teleological philosopher might argue that we should judge whether an act is good or bad by seeing if it produces a good or bad result, and a teleological explanation of evolutionary changes claims that all such changes occur for a definite purpose.