ambitious

[am-bish-uhs]

adjective

1. having ambition; eagerly desirous of achieving or obtaining success, power, wealth, a specific goal, etc..

   The school is known for its ambitious students.

   Antonyms: lackadaisical, apathetic

2. showing or caused by ambition or an earnest desire for achievement or distinction.

   This season saw an ambitious attempt to break the record for number of wins in a single season.

3. strongly desirous; eager.

   It is common for children to be ambitious of love and approval.

4. requiring exceptional effort, ability, etc..

   The candidate is proposing an ambitious program for eliminating all slums.

ambitious

/ æmˈbɪʃəs /

adjective

1. having a strong desire for success or achievement; wanting power, money, etc

2. necessitating extraordinary effort or ability

   an ambitious project

3. (often foll by of) having a great desire (for something or to do something)

Other Word Forms

• ambitiously adverb
• ambitiousness noun
• nonambitious adjective
• nonambitiously adverb
• nonambitiousness noun
• overambitious adjective
• overambitiously adverb
• overambitiousness noun
• unambitious adjective
• unambitiously adverb
• unambitiousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ambitious¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin ambitiōsus, equivalent to ambiti(ō) ambition + -ōsus -ous

Synonym Study

Ambitious, aspiring, enterprising describe a person who wishes to rise above their present position or condition. The ambitious person wishes to attain worldly success, and puts forth effort toward this end: ambitious for social position. The enterprising person, interested especially in wealth, is characterized by energy and daring in undertaking projects. The aspiring person wishes to rise (mentally or spiritually) to a higher level or plane, or to attain some end above ordinary expectations.

Example Sentences

As he watched his father struggle, Jack sometimes wondered if some of the grand plans—finishing movies, playing at “Back to the Beginning”—were overly ambitious.

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Yet steady FM radio play kept the songs in rotation through the early ’70s, by which time rock was full of proudly ambitious outfits such as Genesis and Electric Light Orchestra.

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The historic bill, which looks to add density to transit hubs across California, is one of the most ambitious state-imposed housing efforts in recent memory.

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Africa’s Great Green Wall is an ambitious project to counter the expansion of the Sahara Desert by planting a 5,000-mile greenbelt across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.

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Still, some said China could have been more ambitious, given that its huge additions of low-carbon energy over the past decade have sharply slowed its emissions growth.

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Related Words

• arduous 
• bold 
• challenging 
• demanding 
• difficult 
• energetic 
• grandiose 
• impressive 
• visionary