ambition

English

Etymology

From Middle English ambicion, from Old French ambition, from Latin ambitio (“ambition, a striving for favor, literally 'a going around', especially of candidates for office in Rome soliciting votes”), from ambiō (“I go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /æmˈbɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ambition (usually uncountable; plural ambitions)

1. (uncountable, countable) Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or literary fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
2. (countable) 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. (uncountable) A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Related terms

• ambience
• ambient
• ambit
• ambitious
• ambitionist

Translations

eager or inordinate desire for some object

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奢望 (cmn) (shēwàng)

• Japanese: 野望 (ja) (yabou)
• Persian: اشتیاق (fa) (eštiyāgh), خواهش (fa) (xwāheš)

the object of a strong desire

• Persian: آرزو (fa) (ārezu)

A personal quality similar to motivation

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奢望 (cmn)

• Italian: ambizione (it)
• Japanese: 野望 (ja) (yabou)
• Persian: اشتیاق (fa) (eštiyāgh)

• Sardinian:

  Campidanese Sardinian: ambitzione

  Gallurese Sardinian: giuditzia

  Logudorese Sardinian: ambitzione

• Sassarese Sardinian: ambizioni

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: амбиция (bg) (ambícija) f, честолюбие (bg) (čestoljúbie) n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 野心 (cmn) (yěxīn), 雄心 (cmn) (xióngxīn), 志氣 (cmn), 志气 (cmn) (zhìqi), 志向 (cmn) (zhìxiang), 抱負 (cmn), 抱负 (cmn) (bàofù)

• Serbo-Croatian: àmbīcija (sh) f, prègalāštvo (sh) n
• Czech: ctižádost f (5)
• Finnish: kunnianhimo (fi) (1)
• French: ambition (fr) f (1-5)
• Georgian: პატივმოყვარეობა (ka) (pativmoqvareoba)
• German: Ehrgeiz (de) m, Ambition (de) f (5)

• Italian: ambizione (it) f (1-4)
• Japanese: アンビション (ja) (anbishon), (5); 野心 (ja) (やしん, yashin) (1-4), 野望 (ja) (やぼう, yabō)
• Luxembourgish: Ambitioun (lb) f
• Maltese: ambizzjoni (mt) f
• Portuguese: ambição (pt) f
• Russian: амбиция (ru) (ambícija) f, честолюбие (ru) (čestoljúbije) n
• Serbo-Croatian: častoljublje n
• Swedish: ambition (sv) c (1)

Verb

ambition (third-person singular simple present ambitions, present participle ambitioning, simple past and past participle ambitioned)

1. To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.

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

External links

• ambition in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ambition in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Finnish

Noun

ambition

1. Genitive singular form of ambitio.

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ambition f (plural ambitions)

1. ambition (feeling)

Related terms

• ambitieux
• ambitionner

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ambition c

1. an ambition

Declension

Declension of ambition

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ambition	ambitionen	ambitioner	ambitionerna
genitive	ambitions	ambitionens	ambitioners	ambitionernas

Related terms

• ambitiös