Dictionary

aspire en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /əˈspaɪɚ/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle English aspiren, from Old French aspirer, from Latin aspīrō (“breathe on; approach; desire”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something.
   • His own desire repulsed him. Though if he could not aspire to purity, then he was sufficiently aware of what his mother and certain others might think, not to give in to baseness. 2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 2, in Arctic Summer,, London: Atlantic Books, page 48:
   • This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 14, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 246:
   • Aspiring to be Gods, if Angels fell, / Aspiring to be Angels, Men rebell: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 14, lines 131-132:
   • Despite these uncertainties, Clarke told MPs he was convinced of the need to order trains powered by batteries. He said: "We're calling for a 'no regrets' order of battery trains because we see them always having a future. We see them being fundable, financeable, similar cost to diesel trains, and we know that however much electrification we would aspire to do, there's always going to be at least a third of the network that isn't electrified. 2023 December 27, Philip Haigh, “All eyes are on the DfT as rolling stock concerns deepen”, in RAIL, number 999, page 19:
   • We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous. 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Random House, pages 177–178:
   • There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, / That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, / More pangs and fears than wars or women have: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
   • to aspire to / for / after / to do something; to aspire that something happens
   • He aspires to become a successful doctor.
   • We aspire that the world will be a better place.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To go as high as, to reach the top of (something).
   • Thus ſhall my heart be ſtil combinde with thine, / Untill our bodies turne to Elements: / And both our ſoules aſpire celeſtiall thrones. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
   • She’s vitious; and your partiall selves confesse, / aspires the height of all impietie: c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv:
   • rockes so high / That birds could scarce aspire their ridgy toppes c. 1608, George Chapman, The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, London: Thomas Thorppe, Act I, Scene 1:
   • Mercutio’s dead! / That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds, c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
3. (archaic, intransitive, literary, transitive) To move upward; to be very tall.
   • Seas that restlessly aspire, / Surging, unto skies of fire; 1844 June, Edgar Allan Poe, “Dream-Land”, in Graham’s Magazine, volume 25, number 6, page 256:
   • There is a moonshaped rictus in the streetlamp’s globe where a stone has gone and from this aperture there drifts down through the constant helix of aspiring insects a faint and steady rain of the same forms burnt and lifeless. 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, New York: Vintage, published 1992, page 4:
   • As they descended, they saw […] one of the grand passes of the Pyreneáes into Spain, gleaming with its battlements and towers to the splendour of the setting rays, yellow tops of woods colouring the steeps below, while far above aspired the snowy points of the mountains, still reflecting a rosy hue. 1794, Ann Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 116:
   • In midſt of which a ſumptuous Temple ſtands, / That threats the ſtarres with her aſpiring toppe. 1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature D, verso:

Forms

Deriveds

aspirement · reaspire · aspiratory

Relateds

aspirer · aspirant · aspiration · aspirable · aspiring

Synonyms

rise · mount · soar · dream · ascend · crave · strive · tower · yearn · ascend · pursue

Translations (36)

mi wawata (to hope or dream) · fi pyrkiä (to hope or dream) · cmn 渴望 (to hope or dream) · ja 熱望する (to hope or dream) · mi ingoingo (to hope or dream) · sv sträva (to hope or dream) · es aspirar (to hope or dream) · es ambicionar (to hope or dream) · ja 切望する (to hope or dream) · pt aspirar (to hope or dream) · nl ambiëren (to hope or dream) · it aspirare (to hope or dream) · bg домогвам се (to hope or dream) · de streben (to hope or dream) · pl pretendować (to hope or dream) · tr heveslenmek (to hope or dream) · he שָׁאַף (to hope or dream) · mi hōkaka (to hope or dream) · gl aspirar (to hope or dream) · la aspīrō (to hope or dream) · ca aspirar (to hope or dream) · fi aikoa (to hope or dream) · cmn 熱望 /热望 (to hope or dream) · tr isteklenmek (to hope or dream) · eo aspiri (to hope or dream) · pl aspirować (to hope or dream) · nl nastreven (to hope or dream) · mi tameme (to hope or dream) · de hoffen (to hope or dream) · ru стреми́ться (to hope or dream) · mi matawara (to hope or dream) · fr aspirer (to hope or dream) · pt almejar (to hope or dream) · bg стремя се (to hope or dream) · ja 希求する (to hope or dream) · la affectō (to hope or dream)