as in goals
something that one hopes or intends to accomplish
college is his immediate aspiration after he graduates from high school
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Recent Examples of aspirations
The United States respects the voice of the Iranian people and their aspirations.
—
Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 8 Jan. 2026
Some of these skew toward the quirkier side, and a couple are blatant reaches (January wish lists are where our most delirious aspirations belong, after all).
—Ava Wallace, Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2026
This, too, is the post-World War II order — the Cold War order, in which countries colonized by the Soviet Union were excluded from the liberal aspirations asserted by the West.
—M. Gessen, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
The content creator jokes that for her, with each new year, the same old aspirations roll around time and again — though she's never been one for big sweeping resolutions.
—Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
With aspirations of reaching the Premier League for the first time since the 2000-01 season, Yang and Esse will add to Lampard’s wide options that already include Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Ephron Mason-Clark.
—Elias Burke, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
The French pastry shop founded by mother-daughter duo Rosaie Guillem and Audrey Guillem-Saba, whose aspirations are to introduce Americans to authentic macarons.
—Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
And with the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS, one more venue is scheduled to disappear for musicians with late-night aspirations.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
To get a sense of how these changes are affecting the next generation’s aspirations, Wired spoke to five high school seniors across the United States about their futures.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Nov. 2025
Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 8 Jan. 2026
Some of these skew toward the quirkier side, and a couple are blatant reaches (January wish lists are where our most delirious aspirations belong, after all).
—Ava Wallace, Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2026
This, too, is the post-World War II order — the Cold War order, in which countries colonized by the Soviet Union were excluded from the liberal aspirations asserted by the West.
—M. Gessen, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
The content creator jokes that for her, with each new year, the same old aspirations roll around time and again — though she's never been one for big sweeping resolutions.
—Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
With aspirations of reaching the Premier League for the first time since the 2000-01 season, Yang and Esse will add to Lampard’s wide options that already include Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Ephron Mason-Clark.
—Elias Burke, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
The French pastry shop founded by mother-daughter duo Rosaie Guillem and Audrey Guillem-Saba, whose aspirations are to introduce Americans to authentic macarons.
—Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
And with the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS, one more venue is scheduled to disappear for musicians with late-night aspirations.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
To get a sense of how these changes are affecting the next generation’s aspirations, Wired spoke to five high school seniors across the United States about their futures.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for aspirations
Noun
-
Brett Hull, a dual citizen who was born in Canada and played internationally for the United States, had 741 goals.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Bringing Arcadia and Big Red food to customers year-round at festivals, corporate events, weddings, private parties and community events is another of Nguyen’s goals.—
Susan Stapleton,
Des Moines Register,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only.—
Ethan M. Stone,
Miami Herald,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Marvel has publicly acknowledged that the studio's productions often scan actors' bodies, though the scans are generally only used for visual effects purposes rather than storing actors' likenesses for future projects.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Secure loose outdoor items and adjust plans as necessary so you're not caught outside.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
11 Jan. 2026
-
CrowdStrike fell more than 3% Thursday after management announced plans to buy identity management startup SGNL in a $740 million deal.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Scaling robots alongside cars The automaker is backing its humanoid ambitions with major investment.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Jan. 2026
-
To the contrary, though the film is frequently funny, Brewer takes their ambitions and reversals seriously.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Trump proclaimed not only US imperial powers but also his imperialist aims.—
Peter Kornbluh,
Washington Post,
5 Jan. 2026
-
The purpose of this column is to assess which of this year’s Awards Gala honorees most achieved those aims.—
Scott Feinberg,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Keefe, his assistant coaches and team officials could not continue to preach those objectives without holding Whitmore accountable.—
Josh Robbins,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Here again, his objectives collide.—
Javier Corrales,
Time,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But her lusty eyes roving over the musclebound gunslinger soon to be known as Igor (Cal Bolder) betray her true intentions.—
Katie Rife,
Vulture,
9 Nov. 2025
-
The show follows the unlikely relationship between agnostic podcaster Joanne (Bell) and rabbi Noah (Brody), as Foster revealed her specific intentions with Brody’s character this time around.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
But this search for ideas and solutions will only work if it can be simply communicated to the players.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Stick with who, whom, and whose for people (and animals who have names) and that and which for things and ideas.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Aspirations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/aspirations. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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