aspiration

American  

[as-puh-ray-shuhn] / ˌæs pəˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• aspirations
  plural

1. a strong desire, longing, or aim; ambition.

   intellectual aspirations.

   Synonyms:

   craving, yearning

2. a goal or objective that is strongly desired.

   The presidency has been his aspiration since boyhood.

3. the act of aspirating or breathing in.

4. Phonetics.

   1. 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.

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

5. Medicine/Medical.

   1. 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.

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

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aspiration British  

/ ˌæspɪˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. strong desire to achieve something, such as success

2. the aim of such desire

3. 1. the act of breathing

   2. a breath

4. phonetics

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

   2. the friction of the released breath

   3. an aspirated consonant

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

6. med

   1. the sucking of fluid or foreign matter into the air passages of the body

   2. the removal of air or fluid from the body by suction

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• superaspiration
  noun
• aspirational
  adjective
• aspiratory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• aspirations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of aspiration

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

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Explanation

If your aspiration, or ambition, is to climb Mt. Everest someday, you better start training, because it’s a long, hard climb that requires a lot of preparation. Aspiration means "inhalation" or "breathing." So how did it come to mean "ambition" or "the will to succeed"? The Latin gives us a clue: spirare ("to breathe") and spiritus ("spirit"). It was once believed that our breath was our soul or spirit, which might explain why we talk about "breathing life into" something, or coming up with energy and ideas to invigorate it. How else to breathe life into something than with ambition and drive, in other words, "spirit"?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aspiration aspirations

Obviously a France of spirit and aspiration exists, a France that wouldn’t wish to remember itself, in the obnoxious phrase of a U.S. cartoon character, as a nation of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

"While our aspiration to serve customers in India remains, we look forward to exploring several options to advance our presence in the market over the long term," Seven & i Holdings said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Burnham also told conference that he wants to "put the country on a new path" and recalled his family's "working-class aspiration" and how the government wanted to "unlock" this for others.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

We want to reunify the island, and that aspiration has grown stronger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

This aspiration towards demonstration was not confined to what we would think of as the empirical sciences but was also commonplace in theology.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

“My dreams and my aspirations are what no one in my family has ever even thought was on the road map,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

As silly as many of these characters are, it’s Sakurai’s aspirations that ultimately look ridiculous.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Whiteman also highlights the value of existing programmes such as "Primary Futures", which bring in volunteers from different professions into schools to "challenge stereotypes and raise aspirations".

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

But the Scotland midfielder, 27, does retain aspirations of an Ibrox return at some stage in his career.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

For every object of desire, another will soon come along to trump it, fueling aspirations even more.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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Related Words

• aim
• ambition
• desire
• dream
• eagerness
• endeavor
• inclination
• longing
• objective
• passion
• wish
• yearning

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