Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Expulsion of breath in speech.
- n. Linguistics The pronunciation of a consonant with an aspirate.
- n. Linguistics A speech sound produced with an aspirate.
- n. The act of breathing in; inhalation.
- n. Medicine The process of removing fluids or gases from the body with a suction device.
- n. A strong desire for high achievement.
- n. An object of such desire; an ambition.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of aspirating or breathing; a breath.
- n. An aspirated sound; a phonetic breathing.
- n. The act of aspiring or ardently desiring; an ardent wish or desire, chiefly after what is elevated or spiritual.
- n. Aid; inspiration; countenance.
- n. The act of removing a fluid, as pus or serum, from some cavity of the body, by means of a hollow needle or trocar connected with a suction-syringe.
- n. Suction; the act or process of drawing air through (by some method of exhaustion), as opposed to the act or process of forcing it through—that is, to a blast.
- n. Synonyms Longing, yearning.
- n. The staccato mark (which see, under staccato).
- n. The drawing forward, in flight, against the direction of motion of a wind-current. See the extract.
Wiktionary
- n. The act of aspiring or ardently desiring; an ardent wish or desire, chiefly after what is elevated or spiritual (with common adjunct adpositions being to or of)
- n. The action of aspirating.
- n. phonetics A burst of air that follows the release of some consonants.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of aspirating; the pronunciation of a letter with a full or strong emission of breath; an aspirated sound.
- n. The act of breathing; a breath; an inspiration.
- n. The act of aspiring of a ardently desiring; strong wish; high desire.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a will to succeed
- n. a cherished desire
- n. a manner of articulation involving an audible release of breath
- n. the act of inhaling; the drawing in of air (or other gases) as in breathing
Etymologies
- aspirate + -ion (Wiktionary)
Examples
“You cannot have too much of that yearning which we call aspiration, for, even though you do not attain your ideal, the efforts you make will bring nothing but blessing; while he who fails of attaining mere worldly goals is too often eaten up with the canker-worm of disappointed ambition.”
“If my intense desire to see the friend, from whom I have parted, does not bring him from the other side of the world, or take me thither; if the mother's agonised prayer that her child should live has not prevented him from dying; experience certainly affords no presumption that the strong desire to be alive after death, which we call the aspiration after immortality, is any more likely to be gratified.”
“Until then, you will need to tube feed your pup to keep them strong and also to prevent them from swallowing food into the lungs causing what we call aspiration pneumonia.”
“That is a long-term aspiration which is very sensible.”
“They are to be avoided unless your aspiration is merely money and marketing.”
“But he says silence isn't an option: My aspiration is to have my own show again.”
“If one's highest aspiration is to elicit rapid-fire answers to a narrow set of repetitive questions, either Williamsburg Collegiate or Army Basic Training at Fort Benning, Ga. will do just fine.”
The Huffington Post: Steve Nelson: Waiting For Superman? Don't Hold Your Breath
“The Hulk Destruction is the main aspiration of the Gameplay.”
“I support both the Israelis and the Palestinians in aspiration to live together peacefully.”
“The “rule of law” is no pious aspiration from a civics textbook.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aspiration’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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balance and symmetrical design
words that are attractive to write and say, and look balanced in symbolic composition, (mini-artistry)
moon, elemental, totalitarianism, solo, snowplow, enyce, illure, ohio, shine, dixie, quattro, curvature and 8 more...
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inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
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1000 words
abdicate, aberration, abet, abide, abject, ablution, abnegate, aboriginal, abortive, abrogate, abstemious, abstruse and 78 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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GRE
acrimony, verisimilitude, tenebrious, tenebrous, dishabille, unfettered, deplorable, woebegone, credulity, naïveté, mitigate, meliorate and 475 more...
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envelopingshadow's Words
denouement, kitsch, acrimonious, macabre, anachronism, atavism, ennui, parse, lugubrious, holism, brusque, commiserate and 164 more...
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Whatever Works (2009)
Words from 2009 'Whatever Works' film.
fault, racket, unto, flaw, fallacious, notion, decent, embalm, filch, delusion, delusions of gran..., grandeur and 135 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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INTERP - VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of conference interpreting. I commend this list to those who want to know more about the profession and to those who wish to organize their knowledge about the profession. To aspirin...
retour language, A-language, B-language, C-language, relay language, take sy on relay, language booth, booth meeting, mic, mike, mission, freelance interpr... and 2086 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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the a list
self-explanatory...
abort, able, about, addiction, absence, annotated, actual, accelerate, acidity, accolades, accomplish, accompany and 57 more...
Tweets
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