ASPIRE Synonyms: 83 Similar and Opposite Words

aspire

verb

ə-ˈspī(-ə)r

Definition of aspire

as in to intend

to have in mind as a purpose or goal aspire to great deeds, and you have a better chance of doing good deeds

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in to rise

to move or extend upward a tower aspiring towards the heavens

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of aspire For aspiring filmmakers, there is no classroom quite like the Cannes Film Festival. — Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 21 Aug. 2026 On the Disney+ Marvel show, Abdul-Mateen played Simon Williams, an aspiring actor who desperately wants to star in a remake of the film Wonder Man. — Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair, 20 Aug. 2026 Jackson, 44, played Avery Buckley, an aspiring musician who has a romantic relationship with Panettiere’s Nashville character, pop-country star Juliette Barnes, throughout the series, with their characters eventually marrying. — Daniel S. Levine, PEOPLE, 20 Aug. 2026 There’s plenty of evidence aspiring homeowners are willing to make those tradeoffs. — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for aspire

Recent Examples of Synonyms for aspire

Verb

Israeli officials said the strikes intended to prevent Turkey from establishing a presence at the base.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Aug. 2026
Amid one of the worst losses of the season, Houston Astros manager Joe Espada intended to invigorate his best pitcher.

— Chandler Rome, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026

Definition of intend

Verb

The footage mixes high-speed chases and explosive action with comedic beats, framing a story built around chaos, mismatched heroism and rising stakes as the mission unfolds.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026
With five minutes of task-specific data and 10 gradient steps, its average success rate rose to 83%.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of rise

Verb

For the Patriots to overcome the Bills, Maye will probably need to ascend into the elite echelon of quarterbacks that his division rival occupies.

— Austin Mock, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026
These leaders ascended to the international stage with a mixture of macho populism and a Trumpian right-wing, authoritarian aesthetic.

— Daniel Castro, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of ascend

Verb

Meanwhile, outside the five districts that Democrats hope to switch, there are safely Democratic districts where progressive candidates are jousting with mainstream rivals, a subset of the national party’s ideological conflict.

— Dan Walters, Mercury News, 25 Aug. 2026
By doing the bees' job, Carcache and Bloom hope to figure out whether the plants around the parasite are pollinated more than those further away.

— ABC News, ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of hope

Verb

But that doesn’t mean the show is cured of its worst instincts, like turning people’s very serious, consequential life problems into entertainment.

— Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2026
In addition, its modular, which means that single reactor can be combined into arrays of hundreds of units, with five-year refueling cycles.

— Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of mean

Verb

Shares of Unitree, one of China's largest humanoid robot makers, initially soared as much as 629% in its public stock trading debut Wednesday in Shanghai, in the latest highlight of investor optimism over China’s technological advances.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026
The National Weather Service has placed South Florida under a heat advisory, with feels-like temperatures expected to soar into the triple digits.

— Miami Herald Staff, Miami Herald, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of soar

Browse Nearby Words

aspirations

aspire

aspired

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Style

“Aspire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/aspire. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of aspire

verb

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