Sentence:  Whenever she opened a scientific book and saw whole paragraphs of incomprehensible words and symbols, she felt a sense of wonder at the great territories of learning that lay beyond her—the sum of so many noble and <WSD>purposive</WSD> attempts to make objective sense of the world. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Possessed of a firm purpose. (from 20th c.)