b. The object or goal desired: Her ambition is the presidency.
2. Desire for exertion or activity; energy: had no ambition to go dancing.
[Middle English ambicioun. excessive desire for honor, power, or wealth. from Old French ambition. from Latin ambitiō. ambitiōn-. from ambitus. past participle of ambīre. to go around (for votes) ; see ambient .]
1. strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction
2. something so desired; goal; aim
[C14: from Old French, from Latin ambitiō a going round (of candidates), a striving to please, from ambīre to go round; see ambit]
am•bi•tion
1. an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as wealth or fame, and the willingness to strive for it.
2. the object or state desired or sought after: A theatrical career is her ambition.
3. a desire for work or activity: I awoke feeling tired and lacking in ambition.
4. to seek after earnestly; aspire to.
[1300–50; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin ambitiō orig. canvassing for votes =ambi-, variant s. of ambīre (see ambient ) + -tiō -tion ]
- Ambition … coursed like blood through her —Vita Sackville-West
- [One woman’s] ambition expanded like yeast —Rita Mae Brown
- Ambition is as hollow as the soul of an echo —Anon
- Ambition is a sort of work —Kahlil Gibran
- Ambition is like a treadmill … you no sooner get to the end of it than you begin again —Josh Billings
- Ambition is like hunger; it obeys no law but its appetite —Josh Billings
- Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals —Sir John Denham
- Ambition is like the sea wave, which the more you drink the more you thirst —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back —Ben Jonson
- Ambitions thin with age —James Goldman
- Ambitious as the devil —Francis Beaumont
- As ambitious as Lady MacBeth —James Huneker
- Aspirations prancing like an elephant in a skirmish —Frank O’Hara
- Good intentions … like very mellow and choice fruit, they are difficult to keep —G. Simmons
- How like a mounting devil in the heart rules the unrestrained ambition! —N. P. Willis
The word ‘ unrestrained’ has been substituted for ‘unrein’d.’ - A man without ambition is like a woman without beauty —Frank Harris
- Overambitious … like a musician trying to play every instrument in the band —Anon
- (I think of) that ambition of his like some sort of little engine tick, tick, ticking away, and never stopping —Gore Vidal about Abraham Lincoln
- To reach the height of ambition is like trying to reach the rainbow; as we advance it recedes —William Talbot Burke
- Zeal without knowledge is like an expedition to a man in the dark —John Newton
Thesaurus Antonyms Related Words Synonyms Legend:
1. the desire for success, fame, power etc. He is full of ambition and energy. ambisie طُموح амбиция ambição ambice der Ehrgeiz ambition; ærgærrighed φιλοδοξία ambición auahnus بلند همتی؛ سخت کوشی kunnianhimo ambition שאיפה महत्वाकांक्षा ambicija becsvágy ambisi metnaður ambizione 大望 야망 garbės troškimas godkāre cita-cita eerzucht ærgjerrighet. ambisjon ambicja لوړ همتی ، سخت کوښښ ambição ambiţie амбиция ambícia, ctižiadosť ambicija ambicija ärelystnad, ambition ความทะเยอทะยาน hırs. tutku 雄心 честолюбство, амбіція عزم khát vọng 雄心
2. the desire eventually to become or do something special. His ambition is to be Prime Minister. ambisie طُموح، مُطْمِح цел ambição cíl die Ambition ambition φιλοδοξία ambición au-ahne taotlus بلندپروازی؛ جاه طلبی tavoite ambition שאפתנות ambicija törekvés ambisi metnaður, takmark ambizione 野心 야망의 목표(대상) siekis, troškimas centieni; mērķi cita-cita ambitie ambisjon ambicja لوړ پروازی، ځان غوښتونکی ambição dorinţă стремление cieľ tiha želja cilj strävan, ambition ความปรารถนาอันแรงกล้า arzu 抱負 прагнення, мета اوالعزمی tham vọng 抱负
He is very ambitious; That plan is too ambitious. ambisieus طَموح амбициозен ambicioso ambiciózní; náročný ehrgeizig ambitiøs φιλόδοξος ambicioso auahne بلندپرواز؛ مستلزم کوشش و تلاش بسیار kunnianhimoinen ambitieux שְׁאַפתָנִי महत्वाकांक्षी ambiciozan ambiciózus, nagyra törő ambisius metnaðargjarn ambizioso 野心的な 야심적인 siekiantis/trokštantis garbės/valdžios, ambicingas, pretenzingas godkārīgs tinggi ambitieus ærgjerrig. ambisiøs. krevende ambitny لوړ پرواز، ډیر کوښښ او هلی ځلی کول ambicioso ambiţios амбициозный ctižiadostivý; náročný ambiciozen ambiciozan ärelysten, ambitiös ทะเยอทะยาน hevesli. hırslı. ihtiraslı 有雄心的 честолюбний اولولعزم tham vọng 有雄心的
ambisieus بِطُموح شَدِيد амбициозно ambiciosamente ctižádostivě; náročně ehrgeizig ambitiøst φιλόδοξα ambiciosamente. con ambición auahnelt جاه طلبانه؛ با بلند همتی kunnianhimoisesti ambitieusement מִתוֹך שְׁאַפתָנוּת महत्वाकांक्षा के साथ ambiciozno becsvágyóan, nagyratörően secara ambisius af metnaðargirni; af stórhuga, dirfskulega ambiziosamente 野心的に 야심차게 garbėtroškiškai godkārīgi dengan bersungguh eerzuchtig ærgjerrig. ambisiøst ambitnie له لوړ همتی سره ambiciosamente ambiţios, cu ambiţie амбициозно náročne ambiciozno ambiciozno ärelystet, ambitiöst อย่างทะเยอทะยาน hevesle, gayretle 有雄心地 честолюбно حوصلہ مندی سے đầy tham vọng 有雄心地
ambiseusheid طُموح желание ambição ctižádost; náročnost die Ehrgeizigkeit ærgærrighed; ambition φιλοδοξία. φιλόδοξες τάσεις ambición auahnus جاه طلبی؛ بلندهمتی kunnianhimo ambition שאפתנות महत्वाकांक्षा ambicioznost becsvágy, nagyratörés ambisi metnaðargirnd ambizione 野心ある事 야심 (garbės) troškimas godkārība kesungguhan eerzuchtigheid ærgjerrighet. ambisjon ambicja لوړ همتی ambição ambiţie амбициозность náročnosť ambicioznost ambicioznost ärelystnad, äregirighet ความทะเยอทะยาน heves. gayret. arzu 充滿雄心或抱負 честолюбність عالی حوصلگی sự có nhiều tham vọng 雄心
n. ambición, aspiración;
vt. ambicionar, aspirar.
References in classic literature ?
Montel was a middleaged gentleman whose vain ambition and desire for the past twenty years had been to fill the void which Monsieur Lebrun's taking off had left in the Lebrun household.
The boy. who had been well instructed, and was sufficiently crafty, proceeded, with a bosom that was swelling with the pride of such a confidence, and all the hopes of young ambition. carelessly across the clearing to the wood, which he entered at a point at some little distance from the place where the guns were secreted.
May the same Almighty Goodness banish the accursed monster, war, from all lands, with her hated associates, rapine and insatiable ambition .
The true value of his character lay in that deep consciousness of inward strength, which made all his past vicissitudes seem merely like a change of garments; in that enthusiasm, so quiet that he scarcely knew of its existence, but which gave a warmth to everything that he laid his hand on; in that personal ambition. hidden--from his own as well as other eyes--among his more generous impulses, but in which lurked a certain efficacy, that might solidify him from a theorist into the champion of some practicable cause.
His was the profession at that era in which intellectual ability displayed itself far more than in political life; for -- leaving a higher motive out of the question it offered inducements powerful enough in the almost worshipping respect of the community, to win the most aspiring ambition into its service.
Be sure of this, O young ambition. all mortal greatness is but disease.
Legree, like many other planters, had but one form of ambition ,--to have in the heaviest crop of the season,--and he had several bets on this very present season pending in the next town.
So, it would seem, few and fewer thoughts visit each growing man from year to year, for the grove in our minds is laid waste--sold to feed unnecessary fires of ambition. or sent to mill--and there is scarcely a twig left for them to perch on.
I knew how she feels, and that there is no other satisfied ambition. whether of king, conqueror, or poet, that ever reaches half-way to that serene far summit or yields half so divine a con- tentment.
The whole of the ridge was exceedingly narrow, and the fall on each side desperately steep, but the ice in some of these intervals between the masses of rock assumed the form of a mere sharp edge, almost like a knife; these places, though not more than three or four short paces in length, looked uncommonly awkward; but, like the sword leading true believers to the gates of Paradise, they must needs be passed before we could attain to the summit of our ambition .
Roxy had no home now; so she resolved to go around and say good-by to her friends and then clear out and see the world--that is to say, she would go chambermaiding on a steamboat, the darling ambition of her race and sex.
Only the older pupils managed to keep their tickets and stick to their tedious work long enough to get a Bible, and so the delivery of one of these prizes was a rare and noteworthy circumstance; the successful pupil was so great and conspicuous for that day that on the spot every scholar's heart was fired with a fresh ambition that often lasted a couple of weeks.