aspire vs inspire
Definitions
verb
- have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal
Examples
In developing countries like India, it is the wealthier and better-educated who tend to be aspirational; the poor are not yet in a position to aspire to much of anything.
I was talking about people who aspire to have their ideas influence the public debate.
We cannot eliminate all risk, and we should not aspire to do so.
Definitions
verb
- heighten or intensify
- serve as the inciting cause of
- draw in (air)
- spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
- fill with revolutionary ideas
Examples
Petanque may be the only sport inspired by a disability - that of Jules LeNoir, who in 1910 was a dedicated player of boules, a French game much like bocce ball.
Pearce , a Zimbabwean architect living in Melbourne, has been inspired by the humble termite.
Clearly the megalosaurus in the opening passage of Bleak House is a flight of hyperbolic fancy (inspired, I would guess, by the papier-mâché dinosaurs constructed for the Crystal Palace Exhibition, a couple of years earlier).
