ASPIRATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does aspiration mean? 

• ASPIRATION (noun)
  The noun ASPIRATION has 4 senses:

1. a will to succeed

2. a cherished desire

3. a manner of articulation involving an audible release of breath

4. the act of inhaling; the drawing in of air (or other gases) as in breathing

  Familiarity information: ASPIRATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASPIRATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A will to succeed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("aspiration" is a kind of...):

ambition; ambitiousness (a strong drive for success)

Derivation:

aspire (have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cherished desire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

ambition; aspiration; dream

Context example:

his ambition is to own his own business

Hypernyms ("aspiration" is a kind of...):

desire (the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "aspiration"):

American Dream (the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did)

emulation (ambition to equal or excel)

nationalism (the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination)

Derivation:

aspire (have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A manner of articulation involving an audible release of breath

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("aspiration" is a kind of...):

articulation (the aspect of pronunciation that involves bringing articulatory organs together so as to shape the sounds of speech)

Derivation:

aspirate (pronounce with aspiration; of stop sounds)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of inhaling; the drawing in of air (or other gases) as in breathing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

aspiration; breathing in; inhalation; inspiration; intake

Hypernyms ("aspiration" is a kind of...):

breath (the process of taking in and expelling air during breathing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "aspiration"):

gasp; pant (a short labored intake of breath with the mouth open)

drag; puff; pull (a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke))

Holonyms ("aspiration" is a part of...):

breathing; external respiration; respiration; ventilation (the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxide by exhalation)

Derivation:

aspirate (inhale (air, water, etc.))

 Context examples 

The use of endoscopic ultrasound imaging for real-time guidance to identify and approach lesions for fine-needle aspiration.

(Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration, NCI Thesaurus)

It may be associated with aspiration and consecutive respiratory infections.

(Esophageal Lipoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A fine needle biopsy aspiration can distinguish a cystic mass from a solid one.

(Breast Lump, NCI Thesaurus)

This procedure may be done at the same time as a bone marrow aspiration.

(Bone marrow biopsy, NCI Dictionary)

And why had I these aspirations and these regrets?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Aspiration of immature hematopoietic elements and blood from the bone marrow.

(Bone marrow aspiration, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration.

(EUS-FNA, NCI Dictionary)

Needle aspiration of the milk is the treatment of choice.

(Galactocele, NCI Thesaurus)

To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I might then have moulded you so as to have satisfied even my own aspirations.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)