ambitious

English

Etymology

From Middle English ambitious, from Old French *ambitieus, from Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

ambitious (comparative ambitiouser or more ambitious, superlative ambitiousest or most ambitious)

1. Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
   • 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Man with the Twisted Lip,"

     As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation.

2. Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.
3. Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.

   an ambitious style

4. Hard to achieve.
   • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly): 

     A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?

Usage notes

• Said of people, projects, plans, goals, etc.

Derived terms

• ambitiously
• ambitiousness
• overambitious

Related terms

• ambition

Translations

possessing, or controlled by, ambition

• Bulgarian: амбициозен (bg) (ambiciozen), честолюбив (bg) (čestoljubiv)
• Catalan: ambiciós (ca)
• Chamicuro: kapapeskajpola
• Czech: ctižádostivý (cs) m
• Danish: ambitiøs (da)
• Dutch: eerzuchtig (nl), ambitieus (nl)
• Esperanto: ambicia (eo)
• Finnish: kunnianhimoinen (fi)
• German: ehrgeizig (de), ambitioniert (de)
• Italian: ambizioso (it)
• Japanese: 野心的 (ja) (やしんてき, yashinteki)
• Latin: ambitiosus (la) m
• Luxembourgish: ambitiéis (lb), éiergäizeg (lb)
• Maltese: ambizzjuż (mt)

• Polish: ambitny (pl) m
• Russian: амбициозный (ru) (ambicióznyj), честолюбивый (ru) (čestoljubívyj)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese Sardinian: ambitziosu

  Gallurese Sardinian: paddinósu

  Logudorese Sardinian: mattauddone

• Sassarese Sardinian: ambiziosu
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-thograch (gd), gionach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: ambiciozan (sh) m, častohlepan (sh)
• Spanish: ambicioso (es)
• Swedish: ambitiös (sv), högtflygande (sv)
• Ukrainian: амбіційний (uk) (ambitsíjnyj)

strongly desirous

• Bulgarian: жадуващ (bg) (žaduvašt)
• Dutch: eerzuchtig (nl)
• Finnish: innokas (fi)

• German: ehrgeizig (de)
• Russian: жаждущий (ru) (žážduščij)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-thograch (gd), gionach (gd)

showy

• Bulgarian: претенциозен (bg) (pretenciozen)
• Finnish: näyttävä (fi)

• German: ehrgeizig (de), aufstrebend (de)
• Russian: показной (ru) (pokaznój), претенциозный (ru) (pretencióznyj)

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

• Serbo-Croatian: ambiciozan (sh)

• Swedish: ambitiös (sv)

References

• “ambitious” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• ambitious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “ambitious” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "ambitious" in Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2007 Microsoft Corporation.
• "ambitious" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus © Wordsmyth 2002.
• "ambitious" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press 2007.
• "ambitious" in Compact Oxford English Dictionary, © Oxford University Press, 2007.