ambitious

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English ambitious, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French *ambitieus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

Adjective

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

1. (of a person or their character) Having or showing ambition; wanting a lot of power, honor, respect, superiority, or other distinction.

   an ambitious person

   someone's ambitious nature

   • 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. (followed by "of" or the infinitive) Very desirous
   • 30 June 2019, Sam Wallace in The Telegraph, Manchester United must shape Aaron Wan-Bissaka into a £50m all-rounder - but there is no hiding place at Old Trafford

     Now he is joining a club ambitious to return to a model of dominating games and attacking opposition.

   • 1864, Henry David Thoreau, The Maine Woods

     We were soon in the midst of the rapids, which were more swift and tumultuous than any we had poled up, and had turned to the side of the stream for the purpose of warping, when the boatmen, who felt some pride in their skill, and were ambitious to do something more than usual

3. Resulting from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition

   Synonyms: showy, aspiring

   an ambitious project

   an ambitious style

   an ambitious attempt to take power

   an ambitious plan

   an ambitious goal

4. Hard to achieve.
   • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in 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?

Antonyms

• nonambitious
• unambitious

Derived terms

• ambitiously
• ambitiousness
• overambitious
• underambitious

Related terms

• ambition

Translations

possessing, or controlled by, ambition

• Armenian: հավակնոտ (hy) (havaknot)
• Belarusian: амбіцы́йны (ambicýjny), славалюбі́вы (slavaljubívy), амбі́тны (ambítny)
• Bulgarian: амбицио́зен (bg) (ambiciózen), честолюби́в (bg) (čestoljubív)
• Catalan: ambiciós
• Chamicuro: kapapeskajpola
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有雄心 (yǒu xióngxīn)

• Czech: ctižádostivý m
• Danish: ambitiøs
• Dutch: eerzuchtig (nl), ambitieus (nl)
• Esperanto: ambicia, glorama
• Finnish: kunnianhimoinen
• French: ambitieux (fr)
• Galician: ambicioso
• Gallurese: paddinósu
• Georgian: ამბიციური (ambiciuri)
• German: ehrgeizig (de), ambitioniert (de)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: ambizioso (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 野心的 (やしんてき, yashinteki)
• Korean: 야심적 (ko) (yasimjeok)
• Latin: ambitiosus m
• Luxembourgish: ambitiéis, éiergäizeg
• Maltese: ambizzjuż
• Polish: ambitny (pl) m
• Portuguese: ambicioso (pt)
• Russian: амбицио́зный (ru) (ambicióznyj), честолюби́вый (ru) (čestoljubívyj)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: ambitziosu

  Logudorese: mattauddone

• Sassarese: ambiziosu
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-thograch, gionach
• Serbo-Croatian: ambiciozan (sh) m, častohlepan (sh)
• Spanish: ambicioso (es)
• Swedish: ambitiös (sv), högtflygande
• Thai: ทะเยอทะยาน (th) (tá-yəə-tá-yaan), มักใหญ่ใฝ่สูง
• Ukrainian: амбіці́йний (ambicíjnyj), амбі́тний (uk) (ambítnyj), честолю́бний (čestoljúbnyj)

strongly desirous

• Bulgarian: жадуващ (bg) (žaduvašt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: eerzuchtig (nl)
• Finnish: innokas (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: პატივმოყვარე (ṗaṭivmoq̇vare)
• German: ehrgeizig (de)
• Russian: жа́ждущий (ru) (žážduščij)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-thograch, gionach
• Spanish: ambicioso (es)

showy

• Bulgarian: претенцио́зен (bg) (pretenciózen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: näyttävä (fi)
• German: ehrgeizig (de), aufstrebend (de)
• Russian: показно́й (ru) (pokaznój), претенцио́зный (ru) (pretencióznyj)

hard to achieve

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: kunnianhimoinen
• Portuguese: ambicioso (pt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} aidhmeannach
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} ambiciozan (sh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} ambitiös (sv)

References

• ambitious in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “ambitious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ambitious”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Template:R:Encarta
• "ambitious" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
• "ambitious" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “ambitious”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.