Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Full of, characterized by, or motivated by ambition.
- adj. Greatly desirous; eager: "I am not ambitious of ridicule” ( Edmund Burke).
- adj. Requiring or showing much effort; challenging: an ambitious schedule.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Characterized by or possessing ambition; eagerly or inordinately desirous of obtaining power, superiority, or distinction.
- Strongly desirous; eager: with of (formerly for) or an infinitive.
- Springing from or indicating ambition.
- Hence Showy; pretentious: as, an ambitious style; ambitious ornament.
Wiktionary
- adj. Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
- adj. Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.
- adj. Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
- adj. Strongly desirous; -- followed by
of or the infinitive. - adj. Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. requiring full use of your abilities or resources
- adj. having a strong desire for success or achievement
Etymologies
- From Middle English ambitious, from Old French *ambitieus, from Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I hear from professional women each day that the term "ambitious" has negative connotations for them.”
“He has faced setbacks in what he calls an "ambitious" plan, including a management shake-up at the core French operations.”
“NEWTON: Well, in this case, I think the Iraqis should be commended because they've learned one of the lessons in early tribunals was to what I call ambitious overcharging.”
“Links said EU negotiators made what he labelled ambitious requests in the previous round of talks with regard to areas such as cars, textiles, clothing and ceramics.”
“They did not like what they called my ambitious ways -- and so they sent me to the Cold Country.”
“BRUSSELS Reuters - Unrest in North Africa has set back in the short term ambitious plans to develop solar energy for use locally and in Europe, but for the longer term the region's abundant sunshine offers huge investment potential, the head of France's Medgrid said on Thursday.”
“WASHINGTON - The government is setting what it calls an ambitious goal for Alzheimer's disease: Development of effective ways to treat and prevent the mind-destroying illness by 2025.”
“WASHINGTON -- The government is setting what it calls an ambitious goal for Alzheimer's disease: Development of effective ways to treat and prevent the mind-destroying illness by 2025.”
“He added: The word 'ambitious' is one we're entirely familiar with.”
“The word "ambitious" rankled some of Mr. Bloomberg's critics, who weighed in heavily throughout the afternoon with tweeted messages and e-mails, mostly saying his proposals were retreads of old and "failing" policies.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ambitious’.
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POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...grow, greatest country, greatest, grow the economy, great nation, great decisions, great, government, great NATIONAL su..., good times, good job, good and generous... and 751 more...
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Describing People
eye, hair, mouth, nose, tooth, head, face, arm, hand, finger, lip, leg and 212 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
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africasunsets's list
serendipity, fragrance, glamour, smitten, nourish, lavish, luxury, wicked, gem, daring, soothe, fantasy and 192 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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nail01
sentimental, eloquent, inevitable, pretentious, verbose, aptly, stoically, grandiloquent, valedictory, assiduous, exorbitant, wreaked and 154 more...
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My Self-Descriptors: A Mirror of Text
Read this list, and read it well. When you finish, you'll know me better than my mother. That is, unless she reads this list too.
libertarian, unorthodox, unfinished, sincere, frugal, lanky, introspective, critical, laid-back, taciturn, lexiphilic, kindly and 115 more...
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Wordlist-1
Important words
atrabilious, allege, anxiety, architecture, ambitious, anxiously, albeit, accommodate, anonymity, amateur, apprehension, aire and 130 more...
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High Utility Words
Plain old words that I love to use.
ludicrous, absurd, delicious, ambitious, nevertheless, touche, dilemma, superb, obscure, albeit, perhaps, indeed and 8 more...
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words that will never be used to desc...
brazen, happy-go-lucky, fun, carefree, ambitious, awesome, manly, tall, bold, glorious, rich
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Words to describe a person
To describe personality, characteristic, trait, behaviour, quality and attribute of a person.
impulsive, loquacious, capricious, mirthful, vivacious, serious, jocoserious, garrulous, vagarious, anxious, valorous, audacious and 64 more...
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good
unfuck, ostensibly, exacerbate, merciless, fluffy, digital breadcrumbs, cyberchondria, power nap, gaping maw, spectral, spectral, verbivores and 75 more...
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Infectious ones
ridiculous, notorious, eellogofusciouhip..., bootylicious, discourteous, incongruous, ginormous, scurrilous, lascivious, capricious, anomalous, chivalrous and 47 more...
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Personality, Mateusz
affectionate, aggressive, ambitious, bossy, charming, competitive, independent, jealous, manipulative, moody, reliable, selfish and 4 more...
Tweets
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