ambition

See also: Ambition

English

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 (“I go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

ambition (countable and uncountable, plural ambitions)

1. (uncountable, countable) 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.

   • a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, chapter VII, in James Spedding, editor, The Works of Francis Bacon, […]: The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon […], volume IV, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, published 1858, →OCLC, page 270:

     The third part of practice hath divers branches, but one principal root in these our times, which is the vast and overspreading ambition and usurpation of the see of Rome; […]

   • 1756, [Edmund Burke], A Vindication of Natural Society: Or, A View of the Miseries and Evils Arising to Mankind from Every Species of Artificial Society. […], London: […] M. Cooper […], →OCLC, page 20:

     One is aſtoniſhed hovv ſuch a ſmall ſpot could furniſh Men ſufficient to ſacrifice to the pitiful Ambition of poſſeſſing five or ſix thouſand more Acres, or tvvo or three more Villages: […]

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.
5. (obsolete) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 22:

     I on th' other ſide / Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, […]

Derived terms

• ambitionate
• ambitionize
• ambitionless
• nonambition
• overambition
• unambition
• underambition

 

Related terms

• ambience
• ambient
• ambit
• ambitious
• ambitionist

Translations

desire

• Arabic: مَطْمَح m (maṭmaḥ)
• Armenian: փառասիրություն (hy) (pʻaṙasirutʻyun)
• Belarusian: амбі́цыя f (ambícyja)
• Bulgarian: амби́ция (bg) f (ambícija), честолю́бие (bg) n (čestoljúbie)
• Catalan: ambició (ca) f
• Cebuano: ambisyon, tinguha
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奢望 (zh) (shēwàng), 抱負／抱负 (zh) (bàofù), 志向 (zh) (zhìxiang), 志氣／志气 (zh) (zhìqì)

• Czech: ctižádost (cs) f, ambice (cs) f pl
• Danish: ambition c
• Dutch: eerzucht (nl) m or f, ambitie (nl) f
• Esperanto: gloramo, ambicio
• Finnish: kunnianhimo (fi) (to distinguish)
• French: ambition (fr) f
• Galician: ambición (gl) f
• German: Ehrgeiz (de) m
• Greek: φιλοδοξία (el) (filodoxía)
• Hungarian: ambíció (hu), becsvágy (hu), nagyravágyás (hu), nagyratörés
• Ilocano: arapaap
• Indonesian: ambisi (id)
• Ivatan: kagum
• Japanese: 野望 (ja) (やぼう, yabō), 野心 (ja) (やしん, yashin)
• Korean: 야망(野望) (ko) (yamang), 야심(野心) (ko) (yasim)
• Latin: ambitiō f
• Latvian: godkāre f
• Malay: kesungguhan (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭിലാഷം (ml) (abhilāṣaṁ), ലക്ഷ്യം (ml) (lakṣyaṁ)
• Maori: awhero
• Middle English: ambicioun
• Persian: اشتیاق (fa) (eštiyâq), خواهش (fa) (xâheš)
• Plautdietsch: Väanämungsjeist m, Äwanämungsjeist m
• Polish: ambicja (pl) f
• Portuguese: ambição (pt) f
• Russian: амби́ция (ru) f (ambícija)
• Spanish: ambición (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: ambisi
• Swedish: ambition (sv) c
• Ukrainian: амбі́ція (uk) f (ambícija)

object of desire

• Catalan: ambició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 志向 (zh) (zhìxiàng)

• Czech: ctižádost (cs) f, ambice (cs) f
• Finnish: intohimo (fi)
• Hungarian: cél (hu), vágy (hu)
• Malayalam: അഭിലാഷം (ml) (abhilāṣaṁ)
• Maori: hemonga
• Persian: آرزو (fa) (ârezu)
• Portuguese: ambição (pt) f
• Russian: цель (ru) f (celʹ), мечта́ (ru) f (mečtá)
• Spanish: ambición (es) f

desire for another person to achieve these things

• Spanish: ambición (es) f

personal quality

• Belarusian: славалю́бства n (slavaljúbstva), амбі́цыя f (ambícyja)
• Catalan: ambició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奢望 (zh) (shēwàng)

• Czech: ctižádost (cs) f
• Finnish: aloitekyky
• Gallurese: giuditzia
• Hungarian: ambíció (hu), igyekezet (hu), törekvés (hu)
• Italian: ambizione (it)
• Japanese: 野望 (ja) (やぼう, yabō), 野心 (ja) (やしん, yashin)
• Malayalam: ലക്ഷ്യം (ml) (lakṣyaṁ)
• Persian: اشتیاق (fa) (eštiyâq)
• Plautdietsch: Väanämungsjeist m
• Polish: ambicja (pl) f
• Portuguese: ambição (pt) f
• Russian: амби́ция (ru) f (ambícija), честолю́бие (ru) n (čestoljúbije)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: ambitzione

  Logudorese: ambitzione

• Sassarese: ambizioni
• Spanish: ambición (es) f
• Ukrainian: амбі́ція (uk) f (ambícija), честолю́бство n (čestoljúbstvo)

act of going about to solicit or obtain an object of desire

• Armenian: փառասիրություն (hy) (pʻaṙasirutʻyun)
• Finnish: yritys (fi), pyrkimys (fi)

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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 野心 (zh) (yěxīn), ^{(please verify)} 雄心 (zh) (xióngxīn), ^{(please verify)} 志氣／志气 (zh) (zhìqi), ^{(please verify)} 志向 (zh) (zhìxiang), ^{(please verify)} 抱負／抱负 (zh) (bàofù)

• French: ^{(please verify)} ambition (fr) f (1-5)
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} პატივმოყვარეობა (ṗaṭivmoq̇vareoba)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Ehrgeiz (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Ambition (de) f (5)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ambizione (it) f (1-4)
• Luxembourgish: ^{(please verify)} Ambitioun f
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} ambizzjoni f
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} àmbīcija (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} prègalāštvo (sh) n
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} častoljublje (sh) n
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} 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.
   • 1746, C Turnbull, The Histories Of Marcus Junianus Justinus:

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

Further reading

• “ambition”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ambition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Danish

Noun

ambition c

1. ambition

Declension

Declension of ambition

gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ambition	ambitionen	ambitioner	ambitionerne
genitive	ambitions	ambitionens	ambitioners	ambitionernes

Related terms

• ambitiøs

Further reading

• “ambition” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “ambition” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Finnish

Noun

ambition

1. genitive singular of ambitio

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ambitiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ambition f (plural ambitions)

1. ambition (feeling)

Derived terms

• ambitionner

Related terms

• ambitieux

Further reading

• “ambition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ambition c

1. ambition

Declension

Declension of ambition
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ambition	ambitionen	ambitioner	ambitionerna
Genitive	ambitions	ambitionens	ambitioners	ambitionernas

Related terms

• ambitiös

References

• ambition in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ambition in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ambition in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)