Aspirationalism
//ˌæs.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃə.nəl.ɪz.əm// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The philosophy or practice of striving to better one's situation in life, especially economically and materially. uncountable
"We think of America as a familiar place, yet it is in so many ways as incomprehensible to outsiders as it has always been. The boundless aspirationalism even among its most marginalised people is one of its most striking and perplexing anachronisms."
Example
More examples"We think of America as a familiar place, yet it is in so many ways as incomprehensible to outsiders as it has always been. The boundless aspirationalism even among its most marginalised people is one of its most striking and perplexing anachronisms."
Etymology
From aspirational + -ism.
More for "aspirationalism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.