DictionaryAI

inspire

verb
USin-SPYR/ɪnˈspaɪɹ/Sayin-SPY-uhUK/ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/AUS/ɪnˈspɑeə(ɹ)/

Formsinspires, inspiring, inspired

6 meanings of inspire

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To fill someone with strength, energy, or purpose, often as though by a higher or extraordinary influence.

    Her quiet courage inspired everyone who worked alongside her.

    Great leaders inspire others to give their very best.

    Similarmotivate, encourage, stimulate, energize, galvanize

    Oppositediscourage, dishearten, demoralize

    Note

    Here the person is the object, and what they receive follows with or to: inspire children with sentiments of virtue, inspire a team to victory. Compare the feeling-as-object sense, where awe or confidence is inspired in someone. Dryden's 1697 translation of Virgil shows the older, loftier frame: a poet asks Erato to inspire his mind and fill his soul with celestial fire.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To convey a thought, feeling, or conviction into someone's mind, as though by a divine or supernatural influence.

    Her steady manner inspired confidence in the anxious patients.

    Ancient writers believed the gods inspire prophets with hidden truths.

    Similarinstill, arouse, evoke, awaken, kindle

    Note

    Breath became thought in this sense. Latin īnspīrāre, 'to breathe into', was a loan-translation of Biblical Greek pnéō, 'breathe', and pictured an influence breathed into the mind. Here the object is the feeling or idea itself: you inspire awe, confidence or comfort in someone. The King James Bible of 1611 still writes 'inspired into him an active soul', where modern English uses in.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To introduce something into a body or object by breathing, or as if by breathing.

    Myth holds that the god inspired breath into the first human form.

    Poets imagined a power that could inspire warmth into cold stone.

    Similarbreathe, infuse, instill

  4. 4
    verbintransitive
    To draw air into the lungs by the action of breathing; to inhale.

    Patients are taught to inspire fully before holding their breath for the scan.

    As the chest expands, the lungs inspire and slowly fill with air.

    Similarinhale, breathe

    Oppositeexhale, expire

    Note

    This is the literal breathing behind the sense of divine influence, and it travels with its opposite. Gideon Harvey's Morbus Anglicus (1672) describes lungs forced 'to inspire and expire the air with difficulty.' That pairing is the clearest way to use it. On its own, inspire will usually be read figuratively, so in ordinary prose inhale or breathe in is plainer.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To cause a rumor or report to spread by indirect means, rather than stating it openly.

    The palace inspired talk of a royal visit through carefully placed hints.

    Campaigns often inspire stories in friendly outlets ahead of a major announcement.

    Similarplant, prompt, spark, seed

Less common meaning

  1. 6
    verbarchaictransitive
    To breathe into something so as to fill it with breath and give it life; to animate.

    Older translations describe how the deity inspired the earthen man with living breath.

    Deſcend ye nine! deſcend and ſing; / The breathing inſtruments inſpire, / VVake into voice each ſilent ſtring, / And ſvveep the ſounding lyre!
    1687, Alexander Pope, “Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day”
    Note

    Breath blown into a thing to make it live or sound: Alexander Pope's Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia's Day (written 1687) calls on the Muses to 'the breathing instruments inspire,' filling the pipes with air. The sense is archaic and at home in verse or in retellings of creation myths. In ordinary prose, breathe into or animate avoids being misread as encouragement.

Practice

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Origin

Inspire comes from Middle English "inspiren," from Old French "inspirer," from Latin "īnspīrāre" (to inspire), formed from "in" plus "spīrō" (to breathe). The Latin was itself a loan-translation of the Biblical Greek "pnéō" (to breathe), and it replaced the native Old English "onbryrdan."