telos
noun
te·los ˈte-ˌläs 
ˈtē-
ˈtē- : an ultimate end
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Assimilation rather than revolution is the telos toward which Secret City strives. 
Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 8 June 2022 Setting and pursuing performance goals supplies the telos of the sport, but success and failure are fleeting moments — drops in the bucket of the overall experience. Matt Fitzgerald, Outside Online, 26 Apr. 2021 Techniques exist to be perfected; Curry has pushed the three toward its telos. Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2021 His telos—his endgame—is the destabilization, the overcoming, of the whole Western order. vanityfair.com, 10 Jan. 2017
Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 8 June 2022 Setting and pursuing performance goals supplies the telos of the sport, but success and failure are fleeting moments — drops in the bucket of the overall experience. Matt Fitzgerald, Outside Online, 26 Apr. 2021 Techniques exist to be perfected; Curry has pushed the three toward its telos. Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2021 His telos—his endgame—is the destabilization, the overcoming, of the whole Western order. vanityfair.com, 10 Jan. 2017 Word History
Etymology
Greek; probably akin to Greek tellein to accomplish, tlēnai to bear — more at tolerate
First Known Use
1904, in the meaning defined above