Meaning & use
aspirations
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“aspirations” is a form of “aspiration”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Strong hopes or ambitions to achieve something important in life.
Grammar: Plural of aspiration. Often used with a possessive: her aspirations, our aspirations for the future.
Patterns
- aspirations to do something
- aspirations of something
- someone's aspirations for something
Her aspirations to become a surgeon kept her studying until midnight.
The school wants to support every student's aspirations, whatever their background.
He never shared his political aspirations with his family.
nounpluraltechnical
In phonetics, the puff of breath that follows certain consonant sounds, such as the p in pin.
Grammar: Technical sense, normally in the singular: the aspiration of p.
Patterns
- aspirations of consonants
The linguist measured the aspirations in different speakers' pronunciation of t.
English stops usually have aspirations at the start of a stressed syllable.
Students practiced the aspirations by holding paper in front of their mouths.
Word forms
| singular | aspiration |
|---|
Common combinations
- high aspirations
- She grew up with high aspirations.
- career aspirations
- We talked about her career aspirations over lunch.
- fulfill aspirations
- The scholarship helped him fulfill his aspirations.
- political aspirations
- The mayor has political aspirations beyond the city.
- lofty aspirations
- The company set lofty aspirations for the next decade.
- crush someone's aspirations
- The injury crushed her athletic aspirations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ambitions
- Ambitions suggests a strong drive to succeed, often with power or status, while aspirations can be more hopeful and idealistic.
- goals
- Goals are concrete targets you can plan for, whereas aspirations are bigger hopes that may be less specific.
- dreams
- Dreams is more emotional and casual and does not suggest a plan to work toward them.
- hopes
- Hopes is a simpler word that does not suggest that you are actively striving.
Opposites
Word family
- aspire verb
- to have a strong desire to achieve something
- aspirant noun
- a person who hopes for a high position
- aspiring adjective
- hoping to become successful
- aspirational adjective
- relating to hopes of achieving higher status
Commonly confused: aspirations or inspiration?
aspirations vs inspiration
Inspiration is an idea or feeling that motivates you, while aspirations are the goals you hope to reach.
Practice
Maya has high ___ and hopes to run her own hospital someday.
Choose one answer.
Aspirations are strong hopes for the future, which fits wanting to run a hospital. Assumptions are things taken for granted, so they do not fit the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “aspirations”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.