aspirant

Aspirant is a noun describing a person who strongly desires or pursues a particular goal, especially a position or status. It is used for someone seeking admission or appointment, such as an aspirant to the presidency, an aspirant to a profession, or an aspirant to a seat in an organization. In religious contexts, aspirant can refer to a person at an early stage of entering a religious order, though terminology varies by denomination (for example, postulant or novice).

Etymology: aspirant comes from the Latin aspirantem, the present participle of aspirare "to breathe toward," via Old French and Middle English. The sense "one who aspires" emerged in English in the 15th to 16th centuries. As an adjective, aspirant describes something related to aspiring, as in "aspirant writer" or "aspirant to fame."

Usage: the term is common in formal writing and journalism. It tends to carry a neutral to slightly evaluative nuance depending on context; it implies ambition and the early or preliminary nature of pursuit, without asserting success or failure.

See also: candidate, applicant, contender, seeker, aspire (verb), aspiration (noun). In religious contexts, related terms include postulant and novice, which denote specific stages in joining a religious community.