Aspiration

Aspiration may refer to:

In linguistics:

  • Aspirated consonant, a plosive pronounced with a strong burst of air
  • Debuccalization, the conversion of a consonant to or
  • Voiceless glottal fricative

In technology:

  • Naturally aspirated engine, an internal combustion engine that relies on atmospheric pressure for air intake, and does not use a supercharger or turbocharger

In medicine:

  • Pulmonary aspiration, the entry of secretions or foreign material into the trachea and lungs
  • Aspiration pneumonia, a lung infection caused by pulmonary aspiration
  • Needle aspiration biopsy, a surgical procedure
  • Vacuum aspiration, a pregnancy termination procedure
  • Nasogastric aspiration, the removal of the stomach's contents via a nasogastric tube.

Aspiration may also mean:

  • Hope or Ambition

Famous quotes containing the word aspiration:

    I feel a kind of reverence for the first books of young authors. There is so much aspiration in them, so much audacious hope and trembling fear, so much of the heart’s history, that all errors and shortcomings are for a while lost sight of in the amiable self assertion of youth.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

    For you, o broker, there is no other principle but arithmetic. For me, commerce is of trivial import; love, faith, truth of character, the aspiration of man, these are sacred; nor can I detach one duty, like you, from all other duties, and concentrate my forces mechanically on the payment of moneys.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    My aspiration now is to get by luck what I could not get by merit.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)