different between intention vs inspiration

English

Alternative forms

• entention (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French intention, entention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentio, intentionem. Compare intent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?t?n??n/
• Hyphenation: in?ten?tion
• Rhymes: -?n??n
• Homophone: intension

Noun

intention (countable and uncountable, plural intentions)

1. The goal or purpose behind a specific action or set of actions.
   • a. 1784, attributed to Samuel Johnson

     Hell is paved with good intentions.

   • “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
2. (obsolete) Tension; straining, stretching.
   • , I.iii.3:

     cold in those inner parts, cold belly, and hot liver, causeth crudity, and intention proceeds from perturbations […].

3. A stretching or bending of the mind toward an object or a purpose (an intent); closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.

   • it is attention : when the mind with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on all sides, and will not be called off by the ordinary solicitation of other ideas, it is that we call intention or study

4. (obsolete) The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim.
   • 1732, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Ailments …, Prop. II, p.159:

     In a Word, the most part of chronical Distempers proceed from Laxity of Fibres; in which Case the principal Intention is to restore the Tone of the solid Parts; […].

5. (obsolete) Any mental apprehension of an object.
6. (medicine) The process of the healing of a wound.
   • 2007, Carie Ann Braun, Cindy Miller Anderson, Pathophysiology: Functional Alterations in Human Health, p.49:

     When healing occurs by primary intention, the wound is basically closed with all areas of the wound connecting and healing simultaneously.

Synonyms

• (purpose behind a specific action): See also Thesaurus:intention

Derived terms

• counter-intention
• intentional
• secondary intention
• the road to hell is paved with good intentions
• well-intentioned

Related terms

• intend
• intent
• well-intended

Translations

Verb

intention (third-person singular simple present intentions, present participle intentioning, simple past and past participle intentioned)

1. Intend

Translations

References

• intention at OneLook Dictionary Search
• intention in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Finnish

Noun

intention

1. Genitive singular form of intentio.

French

Etymology

From Middle French entention, from Old French entencion, borrowed from Latin intenti?, intenti?nem. Respelled intention in Middle French to more closely match the Classical Latin form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.t??.sj??/

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. intention

Derived terms

Further reading

• “intention” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Noun

intention f (plural intentions)

1. Alternative form of entention

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French inspiration, from Late Latin ?nsp?r?ti?nem (nominative: ?nsp?r?ti?), from Latin ?nsp?r?tus (past participle of insp?r?).Morphologically inspire +? -ation

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nsp???e???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

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 respiration.
2. (countable) A breath, a single inhalation.
   • 1826, John Bostock, An Elementary System of Physiology, p. 220:

     Laughing is produced by an inspiration succeeded by a succession of short imperfect expirations.
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.

   • 1971, Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150—750, Thames & Hudson LTD (2013 reprint), ?ISBN, page 54.

     The more strongly people felt about their ideas, the more potent the demons seemed to them: Christians believed that traditional paganism, far from being the work of men, was an 'opium of the masses', pumped into the human race by the non-human demons; and one scholar even ascribed bad reviews of his book to demonic inspiration!

4. The act of an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect, emotions or creativity.

   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:

   • 1865, George Duffield, The Nation's Wail, p. 6:

     We caught the inspiration of his joy; and imagination painted a glorious future near at hand for our land, quickly to develop itself under the guidance of his fostering wisdom, and fraternal counsels and care.

   • 1998, David Allen Brown, Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius, p. 25:

     All this suggests that Andrea may, like the authors of the devotional panel, the fresco, and the print – and like Leonardo, as we shall see – have found his inspiration in Pollaiuolo.

   • 2002, Sven Rasegård, Man and Science: A Web of Systems and Social Conventions, p. 2:

     And now it is time for problem solving which, if successful, will create new ideas serving as an inspiration source for future research objects of the researcher in question as well as other researchers within the same field.

   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd", BBC Sport, 1 September 2013:

     As for United, this was a performance lacking in inspiration, purpose and threat and once again underlined the urgency for transfer business to be done in the closing hours of the transfer window.

5. A person, object, or situation which quickens or stimulates an influence upon the intellect, emotions or creativity.
   • 2008 April 5, George W. Bush, Presidential Radio Address:

     The people of Ukraine and Georgia are an inspiration to the world, and I was pleased that this week NATO declared that Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO.

6. A new idea, especially one which arises suddenly and is clever or creative.
   • 1916, Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, Mrs. Balfame, ch. 15:

     Mrs. Balfame had an inspiration. "My God!" she exclaimed, springing to her feet, "the murderer . . . was hidden in the cellar or attic all night, all the next day! He may be here yet!"

   • 2007 July 1, Sylviane Gold, "Scenery Chewer Plays It Straight, Methodically," New York Times (retrieved 3 Sept. 2013):

     [H]e accompanied her to a rehearsal of a skit satirizing “Casablanca,” and the director had an inspiration: Wouldn’t it be a laugh to cast a 10-year-old as Rick?

Synonyms

• (physiology): inhalation
• (stimulation of creativity or intellect): spark, flash, eureka

Antonyms

• (physiology): expiration

Derived terms

Related terms

• inspire

Translations

See also

• Muse
• Pierian spring

References

• inspiration in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

French

Etymology

From Old French inspiration, borrowed from Late Latin ?nsp?r?ti?nem (nominative: ?nsp?r?ti?), from Latin ?nsp?r?tus (past participle of insp?r?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s.pi.?a.sj??/

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 (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Etymology

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

Noun

inspiration 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)