aspiration

[ as-puh-rey-shuhn ]
See synonyms for: aspirationaspirations on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a strong desire, longing, or aim; ambition: intellectual aspirations.

  2. a goal or objective that is strongly desired: The presidency has been his aspiration since boyhood.

  1. the act of aspirating or breathing in.

  2. Phonetics.

    • articulation accompanied by an audible puff of breath, as in the h-sound of how, or of when (hwen), or in the release of initial stops, as in the k-sound of key.

    • the use of such a speech sound, or aspirate, in pronunciation.

  3. Medicine/Medical.

    • the act of removing a fluid, as pus or serum, from a cavity of the body, by a hollow needle or trocar connected with a suction syringe.

    • the act of inhaling fluid or a foreign body into the bronchi and lungs, often after vomiting.

Origin of aspiration

1
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin aspīrātiōn-, stem of aspīrātiō “a breathing upon”; see aspirate, -ion

Other words for aspiration

Other words from aspiration

  • as·pi·ra·tion·al, adjective
  • su·per·as·pi·ra·tion, noun

Words Nearby aspiration

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use aspiration in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for aspiration

aspiration

/ (ˌæspɪˈreɪʃən) /


noun
  1. strong desire to achieve something, such as success

  2. the aim of such desire

    • the act of breathing

    • a breath

  1. phonetics

    • the pronunciation of a stop with an audible and forceful release of breath

    • the friction of the released breath

    • an aspirated consonant

  2. removal of air or fluid from a body cavity by suction

  3. med

    • the sucking of fluid or foreign matter into the air passages of the body

    • the removal of air or fluid from the body by suction

Derived forms of aspiration

  • aspirational, adjective
  • aspiratory (əˈspaɪrətərɪ, -trɪ, ˈæspɪrətərɪ, -trɪ), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012