project

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒd͡ʒ.ɛkt/, (rare) /ˈpɹəʊ.dʒɛkt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɐʊ.d͡ʒekt/, /ˈpɹɔd͡ʒ.ekt/
• (General American) enPR: prŏʹjĕkt', prŏʹjĭkt IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑˌd͡ʒɛkt/, /ˈpɹɑ.d͡ʒɪkt/, [-d͡ʒɪ̈kt]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒd͡ʒ.ɛkt/, /ˈpɹoʊ.d͡ʒɛkt/

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒdʒɛkt, -əʊdʒɛkt
• Hyphenation: proj‧ect

Verb

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

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈd͡ʒekt/
• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: pro‧ject

Noun

project (plural projects)

1. A planned endeavor, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages.

   Synonyms: plan; see also Thesaurus:design

   • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Greatness of the Gospel Salvation:

     projects of happiness devised by human reason

   • 1924, Clarence Budington Kelland, The Steadfast Heart/Chapter 22:

     Rainbow, […] came forward enthusiastically to put its money into the project in sums which ran all the way from one share at ten dollars to ten shares

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     The proposal with China would involve a project to create artificial rain.

     Audio (US):

     (file)

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

   Synonyms: council estate, scheme

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

   • 1996, “Stakes is High”, in Stakes Is High, performed by De La Soul:

     Experiments when needles and skin connect / No wonder where we live is called the projects

   • 2012, “Money Trees”, in Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, performed by Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock:

     Imagine rock up in them projects / Where them niggas pick your pockets

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

   Synonym: Tower of Babel

   a man given to projects

4. (US, sports) A raw recruit who the team hopes will improve greatly with coaching; a long shot, diamond in the rough.
   • 2014 October 27, Gabriele Marcotti, “Ancelotti triumphs, van Gaal's progress, Dortmund disappoint, more”, in ESPN FC:

     Sakho was seen as no-frills, whereas Maiga was a project who could develop into the next big thing.

   • 2018 September 2, Arnie Melendrez Stapleton, “Broncos cut ties with 2016 first-round pick QB Lynch”, in WNYT:

     Elway acknowledged at the time that Lynch was a project who needed some seasoning but he expressed hope that Lynch might be a quick study. He wasn't.

5. (obsolete) A projectile.

   Synonym: missile

6. (obsolete) A projection.

   Synonyms: protuberance, protrusion

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To extend beyond a surface.

   Synonyms: extend, jut, protrude, stick out

2. (transitive) To cast (an image or shadow) upon a surface; to throw or cast forward; to shoot forth.

   Synonyms: cast, throw; see also Thesaurus:throw

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 45:

     Before his feet her selfe she did proiect

   • 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:

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

3. (transitive) To extend (a protrusion or appendage) outward.

   Synonyms: extend, jut, jut out

4. (transitive) To make plans for; to forecast.

   Synonyms: forecast, foresee, foretell

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

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 172:

     To form a strict alliance between the cabinets of Paris and London—which meant, that he should influence both,—to induce Charles to marry the loveliest of his nieces, Hortense—thus making a common interest between them, were now the great objects with the Cardinal; and the present visit was of his projecting.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     projecting Peace and Warr?

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.
8. (geometry) To draw straight lines from a fixed point through every point of any body or figure, and let these fall upon a surface so as to form the points of a new figure.
9. (neuroanatomy) (of a neuron or group of neurons) to have axon(s) extending to and therefore able to influence a remote location
10. (transitive) To cause (one's voice or words) to be heard at a great distance.

    to project one's voice

11. (intransitive) To speak or sing in such a way that one can be heard at a great distance.
    • 2016, Sam Esmail, Courtney Looney, Mr. Robot: Red Wheelbarrow: eps1.91_redwheelbarr0w.txt, Abrams Books, New York City, →ISBN:

      You would think that topic coulda put me to sleep, but HE can really project when HE wants to.

Further reading

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

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin prōiectum. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. via French or borrowed from Latin?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /proːˈjɛkt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pro‧ject
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Noun

project n (plural projecten, diminutive projectje n)

1. project (planned endeavor)

Alternative forms

• (Provençal) projecte, (Languedoc) projècte

Noun

project m (plural projects) (Limousin)

1. project

Further reading

• Yves Lavalade, Dictionnaire d'usage occitan/français - Limousin, Marche, Périgord, Institut d'Estudis Occitans dau Lemosin, 2010, →ISBN, page 464.