ambition

See also: Ambition

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?

Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder.

Proto-Italic *amβi-

Latin ambi-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éyti

Proto-Italic *ejō

Proto-Italic *eō

Latin eō

Latin ambiō

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin ambitiōder.

Old French ambitionbor.

Middle English ambicioun

English ambition

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 (“to go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue. By surface analysis, ambit +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/, (/æ/ raising) [ɛəmˈbɪʃ.n̩]

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɛmˈbəʃ.ən/

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: […]

   • 1997, “Paranoid Android”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead:

     Ambition makes you look pretty ugly / Kicking, squealing, Gucci little piggy

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
• Dusun:

  Central Dusun: iman-imanon

• 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
• Icelandic: metnaður (is) m
• 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
• Luxembourgish: Éiergäiz m
• Malay: kesungguhan (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭിലാഷം (ml) (abhilāṣaṁ), ലക്ഷ്യം (ml) (lakṣyaṁ)
• Māori: 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)
• Serbo-Croatian: ambicija (sh) f
• 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)
• Māori: hemonga
• Persian: آرزو (fa) (ârezu)
• Portuguese: ambição (pt) f
• Russian: цель (ru) f (celʹ), мечта́ (ru) f (mečtá)
• Spanish: ambición (es) f
• Swedish: ambition (sv) c

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
• Swedish: ambitionsnivå (sv) c
• 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:

  Latin: ^{(please verify)} àmbīcija (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} prègalāštvo (sh) n; ^{(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.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “ambition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Danish

Etymology

From French ambition, from Latin ambitiō.

Noun

ambition c (singular definite ambitionen, plural indefinite ambitioner)

1. ambition

Declension

Declension of ambition

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ambition	ambitionen	ambitioner	ambitionerne
genitive	ambitions	ambitionens	ambitioners	ambitionernes

Related terms

• ambitiøs

References

• “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 ambitiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.bi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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Noun

ambition f (plural ambitions)

1. ambition

Derived terms

• ambitionner

Related terms

• ambitieux

Descendants

• → Danish: ambition
• → German: Ambition
• → Romanian: ambiție
• → Swedish: ambition

Further reading

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

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambition.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ambition c

1. ambition

Declension

Declension of ambition

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	ambition	ambitions
	definite	ambitionen	ambitionens
plural	indefinite	ambitioner	ambitioners
	definite	ambitionerna	ambitionernas

Related terms

• ambitiös

References

• “ambition”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “ambition”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “ambition”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)