aspirate
aspirated; aspirates; aspirating
To aspirate is to exhale or breathe air out as you speak. Many languages include word sounds that require the speaker to aspirate.
Many speakers aspirate as they pronounce certain sounds, and in linguistics or speech therapy, it's a common term. In medicine, to aspirate is something very different — it means to suck or breathe in, often in a dangerous way. Someone who drowns, for example, aspirates water as they struggle. The Latin root is aspirare, "to breathe upon, blow upon, or breathe."
Definitions of aspirate
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suck in (air)
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type of:
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breathe in, inhale, inspire
draw in (air)
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breathe in, inhale, inspire
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remove as if by suction
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pronounce with aspiration; of stop sounds
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a consonant pronounced with aspiration
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type of:
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consonant
a speech sound that is not a vowel
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consonant
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘aspirate'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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