aspiration

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act of aspiring or ardently desiring; an ardent wish or desire, chiefly after what is elevated or spiritual (with common adjunct adpositions being to and of).

   “Riley has an aspiration to become a doctor.”

   “Morgan has an aspiration of winning the game.”

   “TfL retains aspirations to further increase frequency on the ELL [East London Line] to 24tph, which would require a switch from conventional signalling to a digital railway solution involving automatic train operation on the core section.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The action of aspirating.
3. (countable, uncountable)A burst of air that follows the release of some consonants.

   “In Cambodian, aspiration is phonemic, so /p/ and /pʰ/ are different phonemes.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The withdrawal of fluid, tissue, or other substance, usually through a hollow needle from a body cavity, cyst, or tumor.
5. (French, countable, uncountable)The silent breaking h beginning some French words, largely of Germanic origin.
6. (countable, uncountable)The process of lenition involving writing a digraph with h, especially at the beginning of a word.