ambition
UK/æmˈbɪʃ.ən//æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
ambition 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.
Noun
ambition (countable and uncountable, plural ambitions)
- 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; […]a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, chapter VII, in James Spedding, editor, The Works of Francis Bacon, […]: The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon […], volume IV, London: Longmans, Green...
- 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, […]1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 22
Verb
ambition (third-person singular simple present ambitions, present participle ambitioning, simple past and past participle ambitioned)
- To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
- Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.1746, C Turnbull, The Histories Of Marcus Junianus Justinus
ambition meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
ambition in Hindi
- ambition, aspiration
- महत्वाकांक्षा mahatvākāṅkṣā
- ambition, craving, longing
- साध sādh
- ambition, intention, expectation
- आकांक्षा ākāṅkṣā
ambition in Tamil
- இலட்சியம், குறிக்கோள், உயரவா, பேராவல், புகழார்வம், சிறப்படையவிருப்பம்
ambition in Urdu
- ambition
- اچھا icchā, دم dam
ambition in Bengali
- উচ্চাকাঙ্ক্ষা, লক্ষ্য
More languagesFewer languages
- ambition in Malayalam
- അഭിലാഷം abhilāṣaṁ, ലക്ഷ്യം lakṣyaṁ
- ambition in Kannada
- ಮಹತ್ವಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷೆ, ಮಹದಾಶೆ, ಅತಿಯಾಸೆ, ಹಿರಿಯಾಸೆ
- ambition in Punjabi
- ਹਵਸ havas
- ambition in Arabic
- مَطْمَح maṭmaḥ
- ambition in Malay
- kesungguhan
- ambition in Indonesian
- ambisi
- ambition in Persian
- اشتیاق eštiyâq, خواهش xâheš, آرزو ârezu
Examples of ambition in a sentence
- 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: […]1756, [Edmund Burke], A Vindication of Natural Society: Or, A View of the Miseries and Evils Arising to Mankind from Every Species of...
- Ambition makes you look pretty ugly / Kicking, squealing, Gucci little piggy1997, “Paranoid Android”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead:
Forms of ambition
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ambitions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ambitions |
| present participle | ambitioning |
| past participle | ambitioned |
| past | ambitioned |
Origin of 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.
Words formed from ambition
Questions about ambition
- What does ambition mean?
- Ambition means 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.
- What is ambition in Hindi?
- Ambition in Hindi is महत्वाकांक्षा (mahatvākāṅkṣā), साध (sādh), आकांक्षा (ākāṅkṣā). See Ambition meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ambition in a sentence?
- 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: […]
- What part of speech is ambition?
- Ambition can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ambition?
- Ambition is pronounced /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ambition?
- The plural of ambition is ambitions.
Words near ambition in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ambition (page history and authors); आकांक्षा (Hindi) (page history and authors); ambition (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اچھا (Urdu) (page history and authors); ambition (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ambition (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹਵਸ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ambition.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ambition.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ambition. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.