Ambition
[æm'bɪʃ(ə)n] or [æm'bɪʃən]
Definition
(noun.) a strong drive for success.
(noun.) a cherished desire; 'his ambition is to own his own business'.
(verb.) have as one's ambition.
Typed by Audrey--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
(n.) An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something.
(v. t.) To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Typist: Robinson
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Desire of superiority, desire of distinction.[2]. Longing, yearning, aspiration.
Editor: Ramon
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Aspiration, emulation, appetition
ANT:Indifference, inappetency, contentment, moderation
Editor: Nancy
Definition
n. the desire of power honour fame excellence.—n. Ambi′tionist (Carlyle) an ambitious man.—adj. Ambi′tious full of ambition (with of formerly for): strongly desirous of anything—esp. power: aspiring: indicating ambition: showy or pretentious.—adv. Ambi′tiously.—n. Ambi′tiousness.
Typist: Pierce
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.
Typed by Debora
Examples
- His ambition was to restore the empire of Jengis Khan as he conceived it, a project in which he completely failed. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- To become a Guppy is the object of his ambition. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Her pride and blameless ambition was to create smiles in all around her, and to shed repose on the fragile existence of her brother. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- To be on good terms with St. Mark, seems to be the very summit of Venetian ambition. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- What aim, what purpose, what ambition in life have you now? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Courage and ambition, when not regulated by benevolence, are fit only to make a tyrant and public robber. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Till you chose to turn her into a friend, her mind had no distaste for her own set, nor any ambition beyond it. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Behold ambition on his brow, And on his nose, a blot. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- And he had an abnormal share of youth's normal ambition to impress everybody. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It is a very noble ambition,' said Mr. Pickwick. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition; but how am I sunk! Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- I have no ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and Archangel. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- She lived to find ambition, as unreal a delusion as love. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- She saw this, and yet determined to win his love; the obstacle served the rather to excite her ambition. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The latter places one human life above any victory; while the former would sacrifice h undreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- No; I do not desire to return to the world, with all its tumult, ambitions, and fret. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- She had her girlish ambitions and hopes, and felt some disappointment at the humble way in which the new life must begin. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- We begin to read less and less of the schemes and ambitions of King This or That, and more of the Designs of France or the Ambitions of Prussia. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Men's ambitions are apt to reflect the standards of their intimates. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She had been plunged into new scenes, and had found in them a renewal of old hopes and ambitions. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- But if you think they are what I should really enjoy, you must think my ambitions are good enough for me. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- I have never recovered my self-respect since you showed me how poor and unimportant my ambitions were. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- In 1810 fresh friction was created by Alexander's objection to Napoleon's matrimonial ambitions. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Kantos Kan was confident now that the man's ambitions were fully aroused and that nothing short of the title of Jeddak of Helium would satisfy him. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- You despise my ambitions--you think them unworthy of me! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Her ambitions were not as crude as Mrs. Bart's. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Her ambitions had shrunk gradually in the desiccating air of failure. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Truly I have been very pure in my ambitions. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Checker: Roland