1
Core meaning
A strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
Example
Her aspiration to become an engineer shaped her studies.
aspiration
/ˌæspəˈreɪʃən/ · as-puh-RAY-shunnoun
A strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
Use aspiration to express this relationship precisely: a strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
What aspiration Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common noun frame
Use this noun in a complete noun phrase, adding the complement that identifies what it refers to when needed.
Example
The programme helps students translate aspirations into practical plans.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact concept matters; a related term may describe its cause, evidence, or opposite instead.
Example
Economic constraints frustrated the community's aspirations.
Use aspiration Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
Her aspiration to become an engineer shaped her studies.
The programme helps students translate aspirations into practical plans.
Economic constraints frustrated the community's aspirations.
Precision Matters
Aspiration overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
aspiration
vs.Means a strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
doubts
Means feelings or reasons of uncertainty about the truth, reliability, likelihood, or wisdom of something.
aspiration
vs.Means a strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
avarice
Means an extreme and selfish desire to acquire or possess wealth and material gain.
aspiration
vs.Means a strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
contempt
Means a feeling or expression that someone or something is worthless, inferior, or deserving of scorn.
aspiration
vs.Means a strong hope, ambition, or desire to achieve something significant.
prestige
Means high respect, admiration, status, or influence gained through achievement, quality, reputation, or association.
Test aspiration in Context
The goal is a strong, enduring ambition for future achievement.
1
His lifelong ___ was to establish a hospital that would serve remote villages.