From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Aspiration \As'pi*ra"tion\, noun [L. aspiratio, fr. aspirare: cf. F. aspiration.]
1. The act of aspirating; the pronunciation of a letter with a full or strong emission of breath; an aspirated sound.
If aspiration be defined to be an impetus of breathing. --Wilkins.
2. The act of breathing; a breath; an inspiration.
3. The act of aspiring of a ardently desiring; strong wish; high desire. ''Aspirations after virtue.'' --Johnson.
Vague aspiration after military renown. --Prescott.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
2: a cherished desire; "his ambition is to own his own business" [syn: {ambition}, {dream}]
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 [syn: {inhalation}, {inspiration}, {breathing in}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
251 Moby Thesaurus words for "aspiration": Aqua-Lung, aim, allophone, alveolar, ambition, ambitiousness, animus, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulation, artificial respiration, assimilation, assumption, assurance, assured faith, asthmatic wheeze, basis, bated breath, bilabial, bleeding, bloodletting, breath, breath of air, breathing, breathy voice, broaching, broken wind, cacuminal, calling, cause, cerebral, check, cheerful expectation, confidence, consideration, consonant, continuant, conviction, cough, counsel, craving, cupping, dental, dependence, desideration, desideratum, design, desire, determination, diphthong, direction, dissimilation, doomed hope, drafting, drainage, draining, drawing, dream, effect, emptying, epenthetic vowel, exhalation, expectation, expiration, explosive, exsufflation, fair prospect, faith, fervent hope, fixed purpose, function, gasp, glide, glottal, glottalization, goal, good cheer, good hope, great expectations, ground, guiding light, guiding star, gulp, guttural, hack, hankering, hiccup, high goal, high hopes, hope, hopeful prognosis, hopefulness, hopes, hoping, hoping against hope, idea, ideal, idealism, ideals, inhalation, inhalator, inhalement, inspiration, insufflation, intendment, intent, intention, iron lung, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral, lingual, liquid, little voice, lodestar, longing, low voice, lust, mainspring, manner of articulation, matter, meaning, milking, mind, modification, monophthong, morphophoneme, motive, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, mumble, mumbling, murmur, murmuration, murmuring, mute, mutter, muttering, nasal, nisus, objective, occlusive, oxygen mask, oxygen tent, palatal, pant, parasitic vowel, passion, peak, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, phlebotomy, phone, phoneme, pipetting, plan, plosive, plot, point, prayerful hope, presumption, pretension, principle, project, promise, proposal, prospect, prospects, prospectus, prothetic vowel, puff, pumping, purpose, reaching high, reason, reliance, resolution, resolve, respiration, retroflex, sake, sanguine expectation, scheme, score, scuba, security, segmental phoneme, semivowel, sigh, siphoning, sneeze, sniff, sniffle, snore, snoring, snuff, snuffle, soft voice, sonant, sonority, source, speech sound, spring, stage whisper, sternutation, stertor, still small voice, stop, striving, study, suck, sucking, suction, surd, suspiration, susurration, susurrus, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tapping, transition sound, triphthong, trust, ulterior motive, underbreath, undertone, upward looking, urge, velar, venesection, view, vocable, vocalic, vocation, vocoid, voice, voiced sound, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel, well-grounded hope, wheeze, whisper, whispering, will, wind, wish, yearning
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0