ambition
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ambition
- /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ UK
- /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ Canada, US
- [ɛəmˈbɪʃ.n̩] Canada, US
- /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ Australia
- /ɛmˈbəʃ.ən/ New Zealand
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?
Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder.
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.
noun 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.
- 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, […]
verb ambitions · ambitioning · ambitioned
- To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet. Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.
