Meaning of target in English

target

noun

/ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/ us

/ˈtɑːr.ɡɪt/

target noun (OBJECT SHOT AT)

an object shot at during shooting practice, often a circle with a pattern of rings, or any object or place at which bullets, bombs, etc. are aimed:

I had four shots but I didn't even hit the target.

Any major airport or station is potentially a terrorist target.

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Aim for the dead centre of the target.
Aim the arrow a little above the target.
When you've aligned the notch on the gun with the target, fire!
They received intelligence that the factory was a target for the bombing.
The missile strike was devastating - the target was totally obliterated.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Target sports

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target noun (PERSON/GROUP)

C2 [ C usually singular ]

a person or a particular group of people that something is directed at, or that something is intended for:

The target audience for the TV series is young people aged 13 to 18.

C1 [ C usually singular ]

one or more people who are criticized or laughed at, or who experience unpleasant treatment from others:

Recently she has been the target of a series of obscene phone calls.

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They flew into heavy flak over the target area.
Major tourist attractions are a soft target for pickpockets.
We must decide on our target market, then zero in on it.
The target of these new laws is people whose dogs foul the streets.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Getting, receiving and accepting

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Experiencing and suffering

target noun (AIM)

B2 [ C ]

a level or situation that you intend to achieve:

The government's target of 3.5 percent annual growth seems easily attainable.

Synonyms

aim  (INTENTION)
ambition
aspiration (HOPE)
dream  (HOPE)
goal (AIM)
hope 
intent  formal or specialized
intention
object  (PURPOSE)
objective 

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

something you want to do or achieve

aimOur aim in protesting is to raise awareness of the unfairness of the system.
goalMy goal in life has always been to be financially independent.
objectiveOne of my objectives for this year is to increase sales.
targetIf you meet your sales targets you will receive a generous bonus.
dreamWhen I was growing up my dream was to perform in front of millions of people.
hopeMy hope is that there will be some kind of positive outcome to this process.

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Do you think we will be able to meet our target?
He's set himself the goal/target of making his first million by the time he's 30.
We set ourselves a target of becoming self sufficient within four years.
Government targets for waiting lists are beginning to be met.

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Goals and purposes

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Idiom

on target

target

verb [ T ]

/ˈtɑː.ɡɪt/ us

/ˈtɑːr.ɡɪt/

target verb [T] (DIRECT)

to direct advertising, criticism, or a product at someone:

The advert for the energy drink is targeted specifically at young people.

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The adverts target yoof culture.
These adverts are designed to target young people.
High repayment loans are often targeted at the people who can least afford them.
Cigarette manufacturers have been criticized for targeting youngsters.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Aiming and aim

target verb [T] (ATTACK)

to aim an attack, or a bullet, bomb, etc., at a particular object, place, or person:

It is hoped that civilians will not be targeted during the war.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Aiming and aim

(Definition of target from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

target | American Dictionary

target

noun [ C ]

/ˈtɑr·ɡɪt/

target noun [C] (OBJECT AIMED AT)

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an object aimed and fired at during shooting practice, often a circle with a pattern of rings, or any object or place at which arrows, bullets, bombs, and other missiles are aimed:

I missed the target.

The plane passed over the target.

A target is also a person or group attacked in some way:

The president was the main target of the senator’s speech.

target noun [C] (INTENDED RESULT)

a result or situation that you intend to achieve:

We met our sales target for the year.

Your calculations were on target (= accurate).

target

verb [ T ]

/ˈtɑr·ɡɪt/

target verb [T] (AIM)

to direct an action, advertising, or a product at a particular person or group:

The paper is targeted at young people.

target verb [T] (AIM ATTACK)

to direct an attack or criticism against someone or something:

The candidate targeted his opponent's comments on the policy.

(Definition of target from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

target | Business English

target

noun [ C ]

/ˈtɑːɡɪt/ us

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MANAGEMENT, FINANCE, ECONOMICS, GOVERNMENT

a result, level, or situation that an organization or group wants or plans to achieve:

The company gave employees the details of performance targets for bonuses.

economic/financial targets

emissions/production/sales targets

earnings/inflation/budget targets

hit/meet/reach a target The French economy is on track to meet its growth targets.

lower/raise/reduce a target

exceed/miss/set a target The company has set a target of 10 million wholesale broadband connections by 2014.

a target date/level/price They plan to finish the manufacturing process by the new target date of October 31st.

MARKETING, POLITICS

a person, place, etc. that an action is directed at or intended for:

a/the target for sb/sth The abundance of resources makes these areas aprime target for development.

Savers have replaced borrowers as the priority target for banks and building societies.

a/the target of sth Their chief executive officer is the target of an investigation into fraud.

FINANCE

(also target company)

a company that another company wants to buy:

an acquisition/bid/buyout target Their plan is to be a buyer rather than a buyout target.

The City has tipped the group as a takeover target.

FINANCE, MARKETING

(also target price)

the price at which someone wants to buy or sell something:

Prices have remained below the $21 target because demand growth has been slow.

The investment house has a 1,125p target price on the shares.

an easy target (for sb/sth)

someone or something that is easy to attack or criticize, often because they cannot defend themselves:

Advertisers view themselves as an easy target for regulators.

Big oil companies make easy targets for politicians anxious to take the heat off their own taxation policies.

on target

if you are on target with a project, etc., you are likely to achieve what you planned at the time you intended:

The company's ambitious growth plans are on target.

on target to do sth We are on target to meet our sales goals for the coming year.

Examples of target

target

Results are also given in bold for cold targets with the same mass thickness as the two plasma targets.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We are not targeting accurate predictions in the face of drastic unseen-before changes in workload patterns.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The manager resource relies on the fact that the subject of the control verb has been identified as the control target's antecedent.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

What is crucial here is that the relevant constraint targets objects of type stem.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One can find a detailed discussion of various assimilatory processes targeting consonants such as palatalization, nasalization and voicing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this sense, targeting begins with the initial assessment.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In their study, participants were required to make fast movements to targets that either remained stationary or jumped to a new location.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The appearance of spontaneous errors depends on noise, but also on the relative confusability of the targets.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Using the 11 mm figure, tests were conducted to see if the window for targeted control could be narrowed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, in that study the ' 'high frequency' ' targets only ranged from 17 to 48 per million words, with an average of 31.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In laboratory settings they occur on about 10 + 20% of attempts to retrieve low-frequency targets.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In short, the target's translation ("dog") interferes with the retrieval of the target's name in the response language ("perro").

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In some triplets, number was held constant across all three pictures when gender was targeted and gender was held constant when number was targeted.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Recall that six different types of errors were coded; three were semantically related to the targets and three were not.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In any case, now that the big cosmetics companies were paying for research into alternatives, they were no longer available as targets.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with target

target

These are words often used in combination with target.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

ambitious target

But the author has a more ambitious target of attack, the economists and historians whom he groups as "radical left scholars".

From the Cambridge English Corpus

attractive target

The authors note that this scenario presents an especially attractive target for class action lawyers (many similarly-situated plaintiffs and large dollar losses).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

binding target

The third-mentioned binding target unfortunately threatens to accelerate climate change.

From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English

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What is the pronunciation of target?

Translations of target

in Chinese (Traditional)

靶, 靶，靶子, （攻擊、轟炸等的）目標…

Meaning of target in English

target noun (OBJECT SHOT AT)

target noun (PERSON/GROUP)

target noun (AIM)

Idiom

target verb [T] (DIRECT)

target verb [T] (ATTACK)

target | American Dictionary

target noun [C] (OBJECT AIMED AT)

target noun [C] (INTENDED RESULT)

target verb [T] (AIM)

target verb [T] (AIM ATTACK)

target | Business English

See also

See also

Examples of target

Collocations with target

target

Translations of target

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