The phrase "a likely purpose" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the probable intention or goal behind an action, statement, or object.
Example: "The design of the tool suggests a likely purpose related to enhancing productivity in the workplace."
Alternatives: "a probable intention" or "a plausible goal."
When he got wind of the project in 1845, he wrote to Charles B. Stuart, chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, boldly proclaiming that he could build a bridge for any likely purpose across the Niagara.
The most likely purpose of a sentence like (37a) is to describe what Jones has been doing in the morning, rather than, say, who the local swimming pool was visited by.
Although its orbits may be difficult to predict in advance, its tracks show where the X-37B has been and its likely purpose, says Brian Weeden, a technical advisor at the Secure World Foundation, a Washington-based foundation that focuses on space issues.
His institute is developing a software tool called App Scanner that aims to help consumers identify what types of information an application is collecting and for what likely purpose.
His is the third such trial this week, and his sentence will serve the likely purpose to all this: sending a stern warning to those who dare to challenge the government in its own, Communist-Party-run courts.
In April and in early May, American troops discovered trailers that intelligence officials said matched the descriptions provided by the human sources who said their purpose was to manufacture biological weapons, and in late May, the C.I.A., breaking with normal practice, produced an unclassified white paper saying that their most likely purpose of was to manufacture biological weapons.
"While the jumping behaviour may occur during feeding or courting events, we believe that the most likely purpose of the jumping behavior is communication, which could have a variety of applications in different behavioral scenarios.
The American military teams claim to have considered these and other alternatives before concluding that biowarfare was the only likely purpose.
It is difficult to imagine that, at that late date, the Secretary of Defense needed to be told the meaning of "counter-insurgency," but the likely purpose of Abizaid's memo is no less remarkable.
1. What do engineering experts believe was the likely purpose of the two trailers whose discovery inspired George W. Bush to announce that portable biological-weapons labs — "weapons of mass destruction" — had been found in Iraq?
