Inspire Means to Breathe Into
To inspire is to fill someone with the urge to do something. The Latin is about breath, which is why you also inspire air into your lungs.
To inspire is to fill someone with an idea or an urge. The Latin *inspirare* means to breathe into, and medicine still uses the literal sense: *inspiration* is the intake of breath, the opposite of expiration. The mystical version came first — a god breathing an idea into a poet.
- To fill with an urge to act or create. *The coast inspired the painting.*
- To arouse a feeling. *He inspires confidence.*
- To breathe in (medical). *Inspired air.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | inspire | It inspires me. |
| Past | inspired | An inspired choice. |
| Noun | inspiration | A source of inspiration. |
| Adjective | inspiring | An inspiring teacher. |
| Adjective | inspirational | An inspirational speaker. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The book was inspired by a real case.Inspired by names the source.
- His calm inspired the rest of the team.Inspire plus object.
- That was an inspired substitution.Inspired here means brilliantly judged.
The breath family
- Inspire — breathe in, or fill with an idea
- Expire — breathe out, or come to an end
- Respire — breathe
- Conspire — literally to breathe together, plotting closely
- Spirit — from the same root, breath as life
From Latin *inspirare*, to breathe into, from *in* and *spirare*, to breathe. English took it in the fourteenth century, first in the religious sense of divine prompting.
Inspiring or inspirational?
Inspiring describes something that actually inspires you. Inspirational often labels a genre or a claim, and can sound like marketing.
Why does *expire* mean to die?
Because it means to breathe out for the last time. The sense of a document expiring came later.