From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisha means to an enda means to an endRESULTsomething that you do only to achieve a result, not because you want to do it or because it is important For Geoff, the job was simply a means to an end. → means
Examples from the Corpus
a means to an end• Technology is not a magic wand, but only a means to an end.• Admittedly, policy is important: but it is only a means to an end.• All in all, everything I did was a means to an end -- my own.• Don't think of computers as a daunting modern technology; they're only a means to an end.• Protection is vital: but as a means to an end, not as an end in itself.• Showbiz was a means to an end.• The separation into sequential categories of response is merely a means to an end.• The young man was merely a means to an end and, in both cases, that end had now been served.• These should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than as ends in themselves. 