ambition

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a cherished desire

   My ambition is to own my own business.

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   An object of an ardent desire.

   My ambition is to own a helicopter.

4. 4
   noun

   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, […]

5. 5
   verb

   To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.

   Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.

6. 6
   noun

   a strong drive for success

7. 7
   noun

   A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.

8. 8
   noun

   A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰider. 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 *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō 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 sol…