aspire

What it means

1. intransitiveTo have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something.

   He aspires to become a successful doctor.

   5 more examples

   to aspire to / for / after / to do something; to aspire that something happens

   We aspire that the world will be a better place.

   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]

   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

   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

   Synonyms: crave, pursue, strive, yearn, dream

2. obsoletetransitiveTo go as high as, to reach the top of (something).

   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 more examples

   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

   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

   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

   Synonyms: ascend, mount

3. archaicintransitiveliterarytransitiveTo 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

   3 more examples

   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

   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

   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

   Synonyms: ascend, rise, soar, tower

In a sentence

to aspire to / for / after / to do something; to aspire that something happens

Where it comes from

1. Latinaspīrō“breathe on; approach; desire”
2. Old Frenchaspirer
3. Middle Englishaspiren
4. Englishaspire

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