See aspire in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for aspire meaning in English (9.5kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "aspiren"
},
"expansion": "Middle English aspiren",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fro",
"3": "aspirer"
},
"expansion": "Old French aspirer",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la",
"3": "aspirare",
"t": "breathe on; approach; desire"
},
"expansion": "Latin aspirare (“breathe on; approach; desire”)",
"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English aspiren, from Old French aspirer, from Latin aspirare (“breathe on; approach; desire”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "aspires",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "aspiring",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "aspired",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "aspired",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "aspire (third-person singular simple present aspires, present participle aspiring, simple past and past participle aspired)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"as‧pire"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "aspirable"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "aspiration"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "aspirant"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "aspirer"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "aspiring"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "45 22 33",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "to aspire to / for / after / to do something; to aspire that something happens",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "He aspires to become a successful doctor.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "We aspire that the world will be a better place.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Random House, pages 177–178",
"text": "We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 2, in Arctic Summer,, London: Atlantic Books, page 48",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 December 27, Philip Haigh, “All eyes are on the DfT as rolling stock concerns deepen”, in RAIL, number 999, page 19",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something."
],
"id": "en-aspire-en-verb-atbwjbbK",
"links": [
[
"desire",
"desire"
],
[
"ambition",
"ambition"
],
[
"achieve",
"achieve"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "crave"
},
{
"word": "pursue"
},
{
"word": "strive"
},
{
"word": "yearn"
},
{
"word": "dream"
}
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "stremja se",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "стремя се"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "domogvam se",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "домогвам се"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "熱望"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "rèwàng",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "热望"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "kěwàng",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "渴望"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ambiëren"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "nastreven"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aikoa"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "pyrkiä"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "streben"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "hoffen"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "shaáf",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "שָׁאַף"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirare"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"alt": "ききゅうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "kikyū suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "希求する"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"alt": "ねつぼうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "netsubō suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "熱望する"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"alt": "せつぼうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "setsubō suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "切望する"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspīrō"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "affectō"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "matawara"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "wawata"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "hōkaka"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "tameme"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ingoingo"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "aspirować"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "pretendować"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "almejar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "stremítʹsja",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "стреми́ться"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ambicionar"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "sträva"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "isteklenmek"
},
{
"_dis1": "90 5 6",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "heveslenmek"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "c. 1608, George Chapman, The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, London: Thomas Thorppe, Act I, Scene 1",
"text": "rockes so high / That birds could scarce aspire their ridgy toppes",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To go as high as, to reach the top of (something)."
],
"id": "en-aspire-en-verb-Zat-nk5w",
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, obsolete) To go as high as, to reach the top of (something)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "ascend"
},
{
"word": "mount"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1794, Ann Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 116",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1844 June, Edgar Allan Poe, “Dream-Land”, in Graham’s Magazine, volume 25, number 6, page 256",
"text": "Seas that restlessly aspire, / Surging, unto skies of fire;",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, New York: Vintage, published 1992, page 4",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To move upward; to be very tall."
],
"id": "en-aspire-en-verb-QBwAu0MU",
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, archaic, literary) To move upward; to be very tall."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "ascend"
},
{
"word": "rise"
},
{
"word": "soar"
},
{
"word": "tower"
}
],
"tags": [
"archaic",
"intransitive",
"literary"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/əˈspaɪɚ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-aɪə(ɹ)"
},
{
"audio": "en-us-aspire.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/En-us-aspire.ogg/En-us-aspire.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/En-us-aspire.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"word": "aspire"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 3-syllable words",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English terms derived from Latin",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms derived from Old French",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English verbs",
"Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)",
"Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)/2 syllables"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "aspiren"
},
"expansion": "Middle English aspiren",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fro",
"3": "aspirer"
},
"expansion": "Old French aspirer",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la",
"3": "aspirare",
"t": "breathe on; approach; desire"
},
"expansion": "Latin aspirare (“breathe on; approach; desire”)",
"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English aspiren, from Old French aspirer, from Latin aspirare (“breathe on; approach; desire”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "aspires",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "aspiring",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "aspired",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "aspired",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "aspire (third-person singular simple present aspires, present participle aspiring, simple past and past participle aspired)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"as‧pire"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "aspirable"
},
{
"word": "aspiration"
},
{
"word": "aspirant"
},
{
"word": "aspirer"
},
{
"word": "aspiring"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English intransitive verbs",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "to aspire to / for / after / to do something; to aspire that something happens",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "He aspires to become a successful doctor.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "We aspire that the world will be a better place.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Random House, pages 177–178",
"text": "We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 2, in Arctic Summer,, London: Atlantic Books, page 48",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 December 27, Philip Haigh, “All eyes are on the DfT as rolling stock concerns deepen”, in RAIL, number 999, page 19",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something."
],
"links": [
[
"desire",
"desire"
],
[
"ambition",
"ambition"
],
[
"achieve",
"achieve"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "crave"
},
{
"word": "pursue"
},
{
"word": "strive"
},
{
"word": "yearn"
},
{
"word": "dream"
}
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"English transitive verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "c. 1608, George Chapman, The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, London: Thomas Thorppe, Act I, Scene 1",
"text": "rockes so high / That birds could scarce aspire their ridgy toppes",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To go as high as, to reach the top of (something)."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, obsolete) To go as high as, to reach the top of (something)."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "ascend"
},
{
"word": "mount"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English intransitive verbs",
"English literary terms",
"English terms with archaic senses",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1794, Ann Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 116",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1844 June, Edgar Allan Poe, “Dream-Land”, in Graham’s Magazine, volume 25, number 6, page 256",
"text": "Seas that restlessly aspire, / Surging, unto skies of fire;",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, New York: Vintage, published 1992, page 4",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To move upward; to be very tall."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, archaic, literary) To move upward; to be very tall."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "ascend"
},
{
"word": "rise"
},
{
"word": "soar"
},
{
"word": "tower"
}
],
"tags": [
"archaic",
"intransitive",
"literary"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/əˈspaɪɚ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-aɪə(ɹ)"
},
{
"audio": "en-us-aspire.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/En-us-aspire.ogg/En-us-aspire.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/En-us-aspire.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "stremja se",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "стремя се"
},
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "domogvam se",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "домогвам се"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "熱望"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "rèwàng",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "热望"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "kěwàng",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "渴望"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ambiëren"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "nastreven"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aikoa"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "pyrkiä"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "streben"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "hoffen"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "shaáf",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "שָׁאַף"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirare"
},
{
"alt": "ききゅうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "kikyū suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "希求する"
},
{
"alt": "ねつぼうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "netsubō suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "熱望する"
},
{
"alt": "せつぼうする",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "setsubō suru",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "切望する"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspīrō"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "affectō"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "matawara"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "wawata"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "hōkaka"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "tameme"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ingoingo"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "aspirować"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "pretendować"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "almejar"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "stremítʹsja",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "стреми́ться"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "aspirar"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "ambicionar"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "sträva"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "isteklenmek"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to hope or dream",
"word": "heveslenmek"
}
],
"word": "aspire"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.