ambition
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L330779 on Wikidata ↗noun
- eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or literary fame
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ / [ɛəmˈbɪʃ.n̩] / /ɛmˈbəʃ.ən/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éyti Proto-Italic *ejō Proto-Italic *eō Latin eō Latin ambiō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin ambitiōder. Old French ambitionbor. Middle English ambicioun English ambition From Middle English ambicioun, from Old French ambition, from Latin ambitiō (“ambition, a striving for favor, literally 'a going around', especially of candidates for office in Rome soliciting votes”), from ambiō (“to go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue. By surface analysis, ambit + -ion.
- Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
“My daughter, Johanna, wants to be a firefighter very much. She has a lot of ambition.”
“The third part of practice hath divers branches, but one principal root in these our times, which is the vast and overspreading ambition and usurpation of the see of Rome; […]”
- An object of an ardent desire.
“My ambition is to own a helicopter.”
- A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
- A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
- The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
“I on th' other ſide / Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, […]”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éyti Proto-Italic *ejō Proto-Italic *eō Latin eō Latin ambiō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin ambitiōder. Old French ambitionbor. Middle English ambicioun English ambition From Middle English ambicioun, from Old French ambition, from Latin ambitiō (“ambition, a striving for favor, literally 'a going around', especially of candidates for office in Rome soliciting votes”), from ambiō (“to go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue. By surface analysis, ambit + -ion.
- To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
“Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.”