# aspire

Pronunciation: US say "uh-SPYR" /əˈspaɪɚ/; UK say "uh-SPY-uh" /əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/

## Verb

1. To have a strong hope or ambition of achieving something.
   - Simple: To want very much to do or become something important.
   - _She aspires to become a surgeon after finishing medical school._
   - _Young writers often aspire to publish their first novel._

## Verb

2. To rise or extend upward; to reach a great height. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To rise up high, or to stand very tall.
   - _The ancient stone columns aspire toward the vaulted ceiling._
   - _Smoke from the altar aspired slowly into the still evening air._
3. To rise as high as something or get all the way to its top. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To climb up and reach the very top of something.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English 'aspiren', from Old French 'aspirer', which came from Latin 'aspīrō', meaning 'breathe on', 'approach', or 'desire'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/aspire (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).