aspire

American  

[uh-spahyuhr] / əˈspaɪər /

verb (used without object)

aspires, present (3rd person singular) aspired, past participle, past aspiring present participle

1. to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value (usually followed by to, after, or an infinitive).

   to aspire after literary immortality; to aspire to be a doctor.

   Synonyms:

   yearn

2. Archaic. to rise up; soar; mount; tower.

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aspire British  

/ əˈspaɪə /

verb

1. to yearn (for) or have a powerful or ambitious plan, desire, or hope (to do or be something)

   to aspire to be a great leader

2. to rise to a great height

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Synonym Usage

See ambitious

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• aspirer
  noun
• aspiring
  adjective
• nonaspiring
  adjective
• unaspiring
  adjective
• aspiringly
  adverb
• unaspiringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• aspiring
  present
• aspired
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• aspire
  simple
• aspires
  simple
• have aspired
  perfect
• has aspired
  perfect
• am aspiring
  progressive
• are aspiring
  progressive
• is aspiring
  progressive
• have been aspiring
  perfect progressive
• has been aspiring
  perfect progressive

Past

• aspired
  simple
• had aspired
  perfect
• was aspiring
  progressive
• were aspiring
  progressive
• had been aspiring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will aspire
  simple
• will have aspired
  perfect
• will be aspiring
  progressive
• will have been aspiring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of aspire

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French aspirer, from Latin aspīrāre “to breathe upon, pant after,” from a- a- ⁵ + spīrāre “to breathe, blow”

Explanation

Does your life goal include world domination? Have an ambitious plan that involves gold medals and international fame? Then you definitely know what it means to aspire toward something big. The verb aspire commonly means to aim or shoot for. But it comes from the Latin word aspirare, which means “to breathe upon.” So here's a trick for remembering this word: Think of yourself reaching up towards a spire, that really tall, tapered structure at the top of a church. Or, if you’re in a poetic mood, imagine your wish as a feather that moves forward when you blow on it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aspire aspires aspired aspiring

Most young workers who aspire to feel wealthy will need to continue investing a considerable share of their income for some time.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

“By getting involved, we aspire to lower the cost and complexity of investing in private assets over time.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

In the news business, there’s the world that most of us journalists aspire to live in—the one that has our audience eagerly clamoring for more of our serious accountability reporting.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

"People do not aspire to be beneficiaries," says Tillin.

From BBC ● May 11, 2026

Why is it that most people aspire to little more than comfort?

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

"He's ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as he aspires to have a normal life."

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

"For anyone who aspires to do more and wants to go further, I'm proof you can do it," he said, also giving shout-outs to the local schools he had been to.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

Of course no one who aspires to get elected will be so foolish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

Corvette, a promising and hard-working designer herself who aspires to Christie’s brilliance, is tormented by nightmares of rich people complaining about the generation who “can’t expect everything to be handed to them.”

From Salon ● May 22, 2026

It seems fair to say that Brunelleschi’s image aspires to exemplify what philosophers call a correspondence theory of truth, in which a statement or representation is true if it corresponds to external reality.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Geely aspired to transform Lotus into a fully electric brand, like others in its portfolio, that would sell 150,000 cars a year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Many series followed in the wake of “Battlestar Galactica” that aspired to capitalize on its legacy; in my mind, “The Expanse” came closest to meeting its level of fearless political and social pertinence.

From Salon ● May 5, 2026

Ashford Inc. never became the big manager of outside assets that it aspired to be.

From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026

Growing up in Lancashire in northern England, McKellen never aspired to be a movie star.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

Just up the road from Gatlinburg is the town of Pigeon Forge, which twenty years ago was a sleepy hamlet—nay, which aspired to be a sleepy hamlet—famous only as the hometown of Dolly Parton.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

The divorced aspiring actor “filmed every second of my life” when she was a youngster, noting that the two were inseparable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Some in the real-estate industry encouraged aspiring buyers to “date the rate, marry the house,” assuring them that they could refinance when rates dropped.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Some 2.2 million aspiring medical students sat for a re-examination under tight security last month after the previous test was scrapped following a question paper leak that triggered widespread outrage.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

Washington has negotiated preferential access to minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo—the world’s top cobalt producer—and in aspiring EU member Ukraine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

But I used to hide in the back of the school theater in London and watch Mrs. Campbell test aspiring actors.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

Related Words

• crave
• pursue
• strive
• yearn