aspirant

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noun as·pi·rant \ ˈas-p(ə-)rənt , ə-ˈspī-rənt \

Definition of aspirant

:one who aspires

presidential aspirants

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Examples of aspirant in a Sentence

a bevy of ever-smiling aspirants for the Miss America title

Recent Examples of aspirant from the Web

Instead, Houston went 16-9 in April to grab hold of a division lead it has not relinquished since, building the margin to double digits and rendering the Rangers as yet another aspirant to a wild-card spot in a crowded field.

— jorge l. ortiz, USA TODAY, "Rangers thoughts with Houston, where Texas is scheduled to play next," 27 Aug. 2017
Who would eventually succeed dos Santos has been the source of speculation for decades; occasionally, the president would slyly encourage aspirants to reveal their ambition before ensuring they were politically neutered.

— chicagotribune.com, "Angola's transition to technocracy won't be victimless," 25 Aug. 2017
The KCI solicitation was designed to prod aspirants for the contract to demonstrate that a proposal could meet workforce goals.

— steve vockrodt, kansascity, "Burns & McDonnell irks KCI competitors with exclusive contractor deals," 23 July 2017
Yet these days the hopes of Serbia and five other aspirants—Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro—are as faded as the yellow stars on Cvijic’s flag.

— The Economist, "CharlemagneThe EU must show the Balkans they still have a chance of joining," 13 July 2017
The color coding — identifying superiority and privilege — was quickly copied by aspirants.

— ariana marsh, Teen Vogue, "High Heeled Shoes Were Originally Created For Men," 12 July 2017
One of the aspirants, Diane Rwigara, on Tuesday met the head of the European Union delegation, Michael Ryan, who in a Twitter post asked electoral officials to clarify Rwigara’s situation.

— Washington Post, "Rwanda’s Kagame rebukes Western diplomats over elections," 5 July 2017
The National Front had approached the presidential elections in a confident mood, with polls showing Le Pen No. 2 in a crowded field of aspirants.

— james mcauley, Washington Post, "Marine Le Pen will have few friends in France’s new Parliament," 20 June 2017
Two of those permits are slated for Southeastern Pennsylvania, the state’s most populous and potentially most lucrative region, where 51 aspirants are vying to set up growing operations inside warehouses that will be sealed tighter than prisons.

— sam wood, Philly.com, "State lists applicants to grow medical cannabis in Pa.," 16 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aspirant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.