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ambition

noun
/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/US/æmˈbɪʃ.n̩/UK/ˈambɪʃən/

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 *-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.

  1. derived from ambitiō
  2. derived from ambition
  3. inherited from ambicioun

Definitions

  1. Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment,…

    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; […]
    • One is aſtoniſhed hovv ſuch a ſmall ſpot could furniſh Men ſufficient to ſacrifice to the pitiful Ambition of poſſeſſing five or ſix thouſand more Acres, or tvvo or three more Villages: […]

  2. 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. ›+ 3 more definitions

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

    2. The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire

      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, […]

    3. To seek after ambitiously or eagerly

      To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.

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

The neighborhood

Derived

ambitionate, ambitionize, ambitionless, nonambition, overambition, unambition, underambition

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for ambition. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA