ambition
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 4 meanings
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.
Verb 1 meaning
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Etymology
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.
AMBITION at a glance
AMBITION has 8 letters and scores 12 points in Scrabble (A 1 + M 3 + B 3 + I 1 + T 1 + I 1 + O 1 + N 1) and 15 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #7,993 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with ambition
All rhymesKeep going
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