ambition
Americannoun
-
ambitions
plural
-
an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.
Too much ambition caused him to be disliked by his colleagues.
- Synonyms:
- longing, yearning, aspiration
-
the object, state, or result desired or sought after.
The crown was his ambition.
-
desire for work or activity; energy.
I awoke feeling tired and utterly lacking in ambition.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction
-
something so desired; goal; aim
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ambition
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ambicio(u)n, from Middle French or directly from Latin ambitiōn- (stem of ambitiō ), equivalent to amb- ambi- + -i- “go” + -t- past participle suffix + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Ambition is a strong desire to achieve. It's what Macbeth had too much of, and what slackers have too little of. If a person has ambition, the goal is usually wealth, power, or fame. This Middle English word is derived from Latin ambitiō, from ambīre "to go around or about." In ancient Rome, candidates for office would go around to gain votes, to further their goal of being powerful or famous.
Vocabulary lists containing ambition
Nothing But the Truth
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Stargirl
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"The Latehomecomer," Vocabulary from the memoir excerpt
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I loved the carefree optimism and enduring sense of ambition that seemed more alive on the Pacific Ocean than it ever had been in me back home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The film’s own logline gets at the tension: four tenacious girls navigate an $800 million business “in which innocence and ambition collide.”
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
“I had an ambition and it burned inside of me,” she once said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Buying a house felt like a realistic ambition if she could save enough money for a down payment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Kepler replaced orbs with orbits because his ambition was to replace geometry with physics.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Still, his ambitions may be bigger than the country’s appetite for Miss USA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
But Herrera's future coaching ambitions are on hold.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Chinese tech giant Alibaba is keeping focus on the sector after announcing on Sunday that it plans to issue $10.2 billion in new shares in Hong Kong to fund its global AI ambitions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
As the hyperscalers continue to seek funding for their vast AI ambitions and increasingly tap debt markets, investors may turn to hard assets as a hedge, including bitcoin, said Chhugani and his team.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status— none of those were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest rein to their imaginations and ambitions.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
