meant to (be/do something)
idiom
1
: intended to (do or be something)
I was never meant to teach.
They knew as soon as they met that they were meant to be together.
I thought we could be friends, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
2
British
: supposed to (be or do something)
The buses are meant to arrive every 15 minutes.
Brighton is meant to be very beautiful at this time of year.
Examples of meant to (be/do something) in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Too often, teams start building or promoting solutions before fully grasping the problems they’re meant to solve.
—
Mike Villalobos, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025
The far more modest 2% target -- set after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 -- was meant to be reached over a decade.
—Arkansas Online, 6 June 2025
The 5,000-ton destroyer is the country’s newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea’s ambitious naval modernization effort.
—Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 6 June 2025
Design and technology features throughout the space are meant to welcome homeowners, shoppers, diners and visitors into a fully immersive Mercedes-Benz ecosystem.
—Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for meant to (be/do something)
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Mike Villalobos, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025
The far more modest 2% target -- set after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 -- was meant to be reached over a decade.
—Arkansas Online, 6 June 2025
The 5,000-ton destroyer is the country’s newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea’s ambitious naval modernization effort.
—Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 6 June 2025
Design and technology features throughout the space are meant to welcome homeowners, shoppers, diners and visitors into a fully immersive Mercedes-Benz ecosystem.
—Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for meant to (be/do something)
Cite this Entry
“Meant to (be/do something).” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meant%20to%20%28be%2Fdo%20something%29. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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