inspiration

English Online Dictionary. What means inspiration‎? What does inspiration mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English inspiracioun, from Old French inspiration, from Late Latin īnspīrātiōnem (nominative: īnspīrātiō), from Latin īnspīrātus (past participle of inspīrō). Morphologically inspire +‎ -ation. Displaced native Old English onbryrdnes (literally “in-pricked-ness”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
• enPR: ĭn'spərāʹshən
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.spɚˈeɪ.ʃən/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.spəˈɹæɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

inspiration (countable and uncountable, plural inspirations)

1. (physiology, uncountable) The drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm, as part of the act of breathing.

   Synonym: inhalation

   Antonyms: expiration, exhalation

   Holonym: respiration
2. (countable) A single inward breath (intake of air).

   Synonym: inhalation

   Antonyms: expiration, exhalation
3. A supernatural divine influence on the prophets, apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a supernatural influence which qualifies people to receive and communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated.
   • 1688, Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, The History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches Vol.2 (1829 translation), p. 355:

     The question, therefore, at issue is, not whether those external means be sufficient without grace and divine inspiration, for none pretends that": but, in order to hinder men from feigning or imagining an inspiration, whether it has not been God's economy, and his usual conduct to make his inspiration walk hand in hand with certain means of fact, which men can neither feign in the air without being convicted of falsehood, nor imagine without illusion.
5. The act or process of an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect, emotions or creativity.

   Synonyms: motivation, spark, flash, eureka

   Coordinate term: perspiration

   Usage notes: In this sense, it may be followed by the adposition to in relation to the person being influenced, and for or to in relation to the idea or activity:
6. A person, object, or situation which quickens or stimulates an influence upon the intellect, emotions or creativity.
8. A new idea, especially one which arises suddenly and is clever or creative.

Derived terms

Related terms

• inspire

Translations

See also

• Muse
• Pierian spring

References

• “inspiration”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Danish

Noun

inspiration c (singular definite inspirationen, plural indefinite inspirationer)

1. inspiration

Inflection

References

• “inspiration” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French inspiration, borrowed from Late Latin īnspīrātiōnem (nominative: īnspīrātiō), from Latin īnspīrātus (past participle of inspīrō).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.pi.ʁa.sjɔ̃/

Noun

inspiration f (plural inspirations)

1. inspiration (instance of breathing in)
2. inspiration (divine intervention)
3. inspiration (something which brings about creativity or perseverance)

See also

• inspirer

Further reading

• “inspiration”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin inspirationem (nominative: inspiratio), from Latin inspiratus (past participle of inspīrō).

Noun

inspiration oblique singular, f (oblique plural inspirations, nominative singular inspiration, nominative plural inspirations)

1. inspiration (act of breathing in)
2. inspiration (something which inspires)

Descendants

• → English: inspiration
• French: inspiration

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (inspiracion)

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnspɪraˈɧuːn/

Noun

inspiration c

1. inspiration (influence)
2. inspiration (breathing in)

   Synonym: inandning

Declension

Derived terms

• inspirationskälla (“a source of inspiration”)

Related terms

• inspirera (“inspire”)

References

• inspiration in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• inspiration in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• inspiration in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)