Ambition

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /æmˈbɪ.ʃən/

Origin

From Middle English ambicion, from Old French ambition, from Latin ambitio ("ambition, a striving for favor, literally 'a going around', especially of candidates for office in Rome soliciting votes"), from ambiō ("I go around, solicit votes"). See ambient, issue.

Full definition of ambition

Noun

1. (uncountable, countable) Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or literary fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.My son, John, wants to be a firefighter very much. He has a lot of ambition.
• Burkethe pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres
2. (countable) An object of an ardent desire.My ambition is to own a helicopter.
3. A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
4. (uncountable) A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
5. (obsolete) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
• MiltonI used no ambition to commend my deeds.

Related terms

• ambience
• ambient
• ambit
• ambitious
• ambitionist

Verb

1. To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage. — Trumbull.