project
Americannoun
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projects
plural
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something that is contemplated, devised, or planned; plan; scheme.
I have several little projects around the house that I’d like to tackle in my time off.
- Synonyms:
- proposal
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a large or major undertaking, especially one involving considerable money, personnel, and equipment.
The city is undertaking several public works projects to modernize and upgrade infrastructure.
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a specific task of investigation, especially in scholarship.
Federal funding supports some cancer-related projects while other research is sustained by private grants.
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Education. a supplementary, long-term educational assignment necessitating personal initiative, undertaken by an individual student or a group of students.
For my literature class project, I wrote an original rock opera and performed one song from it.
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Informal. the projects, a housing project, typically one constructed as a development of high-rise towers with apartments for low-income residents, especially in the second half of the 20th century.
Back in those days, the projects were no place to raise a family.
verb (used with object)
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projects,
present (3rd person singular)
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projected,
past participle, past
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projecting
present participle
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to propose, contemplate, or plan.
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to throw, cast, or impel forward or onward.
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to set forth or calculate (some future thing).
They projected the building costs for the next five years.
- Synonyms:
- predict
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to throw or cause to fall upon a surface or into space, as a ray of light or a shadow.
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to cause (a figure or image) to appear, as on a background.
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to regard (something within the mind, as a feeling, thought, or attitude) as having some form of reality outside the mind.
He projected a thrilling picture of the party's future.
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to cause to jut out or protrude.
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Geometry.
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to throw forward an image of (a figure or the like) by straight lines or rays, either parallel, converging, or diverging, that pass through all its points and reproduce it on another surface or figure.
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to transform the points (of one figure) into those of another by a correspondence between points.
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to present (an idea, program, etc.) for consideration or action.
They made every effort to project the notion of world peace.
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to use (one's voice, gestures, etc.) forcefully enough to be perceived at a distance, as by all members of the audience in a theater.
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to communicate clearly and forcefully (one's thoughts, personality, role, etc.) to an audience, as in a theatrical performance; produce a compelling image of.
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to cause (the voice) to appear to come from a source other than oneself, as in ventriloquism; throw.
verb (used without object)
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projects,
present (3rd person singular)
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projected,
past participle, past
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projecting
present participle
-
to extend or protrude beyond something else.
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to use one's voice forcefully enough to be heard at a distance, as in a theater.
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to produce a clear impression of one's thoughts, personality, role, etc., in an audience; communicate clearly and forcefully.
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Psychology. to ascribe one's own feelings, thoughts, or attitudes to others.
noun
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a proposal, scheme, or design
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a task requiring considerable or concerted effort, such as one by students
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the subject of such a task
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short for housing project
verb
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(tr) to propose or plan
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(tr) to predict; estimate; extrapolate
we can project future needs on the basis of the current birth rate
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(tr) to throw or cast forwards
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to jut or cause to jut out
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(tr) to send forth or transport in the imagination
to project oneself into the future
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(tr) to cause (an image) to appear on a surface
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to cause (one's voice) to be heard clearly at a distance
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psychol
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(intr) (esp of a child) to believe that others share one's subjective mental life
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to impute to others (one's hidden desires and impulses), esp as a means of defending oneself Compare introject
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(tr) geometry to draw a projection of
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(intr) to communicate effectively, esp to a large gathering
Synonym Usage
See plan.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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counterprojectnoun
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subprojectnoun
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reprojectverb
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nonprojectingadjective
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projectableadjective
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unprojectedadjective
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unprojectingadjective
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projectinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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projectsimple
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projectssimple
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have projectedperfect
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has projectedperfect
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am projectingprogressive
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are projectingprogressive
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is projectingprogressive
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have been projectingperfect progressive
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has been projectingperfect progressive
Past
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projectedsimple
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had projectedperfect
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was projectingprogressive
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were projectingprogressive
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had been projectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of project
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun project(e) “design, plan,” from Medieval Latin prōjectum, Latin: “projecting part,” noun use of neuter of Latin prōjectus, past participle of prōicere “to throw forward, extend,” equivalent to prō- pro- 1 + -icere, combining form of jacere “to throw”
Explanation
A project is a piece of work that is planned or intended. Plan a little extra time for your gingerbread house project — gluing the walls and roof can take a while. If you call a person your project, pronounced PRAH-jekt, it means you are trying to improve them by telling them how to behave, etc. As a verb, pronounced pro-JEKT, it means to jut out literally — The fireplace projects into the dining room — or figuratively — Try to project your ideas forcefully. If you assume another person is feeling the same things you are, you are projecting your feelings onto them.
Vocabulary lists containing project
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One risk is that the project is strangled by inflexibility in the Navy’s technical bureaucracy that certifies parts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Elon Musk and the chief executive officer of Intel on Wednesday pushed back against doubts over the technology group’s role in the trillionaire’s Terafab chip-making project.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
This outing is, clearly, an homage, but by the end I have concluded that it is simply an art project, which is a fully legitimate reason to do something.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
The project being backed by the King is intended to equip young people with practical skills to work in the creative industries.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Leo is really worried about his grades in Kumu Whitman’s class. He doesn’t want to do the group project in Waikīkī. He wants to do it at Kaluanui Stream.”
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
In total, 35 films — including 28 independent projects — received production incentives in the latest round of incentives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Yorkshire Water said it was investigating further projects in Ripon as part of a £1.5bn investment programme aimed at reducing storm overflow use.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“While they may start off as behind-the-meter or off-grid projects, data centers ultimately would like to be tied into the grid,” DeCampo says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
New York imposed a statewide moratorium on large data centers in July, and Texas’s August directive halted as many as 1,800 projects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Once Zara decides to take on projects like this, she jumps in with both feet and doesn’t look back.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
The S&P 500 is now trading at roughly 19.3 times its constituents’ projected earnings over the next 12 months, down from 22.2 times at the beginning of the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
In Burgundy and the Beaujolais region, production is projected to be 30 percent lower than the five-year average.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Batters best at winning challenges didn’t necessarily produce at the plate: Jose Altuve topped all batters with 5.6 projected runs gained, followed by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh at 4.6.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
So all five stocks are priced lower than the S&P 500, with higher projected sales growth and FCF headroom.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
It projected a man Ella had never seen before.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Becerra finally unlocked the inner cholo so many of us have been waiting to see, instead of the Chicano Ned Flanders he’s been projecting for decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Quebec is among the hardest hit by the latest US tariffs, with experts at global forecasting firm Oxford Economics projecting a C$2bn blow for the province.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is projecting a more humble view after failing to jawbone the bond market.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
By placing a tether around captive moths and projecting stars on the wall, researchers last year showed how Bogongs used the Milky Way.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The lifeboat now had a prow projecting over the waves, if crookedly.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
