Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Full of, characterized by, or motivated by ambition.
  • adjective Greatly desirous; eager.
  • adjective Requiring or showing much effort; challenging.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
  • adjective Strongly desirous; -- followed by of or the infinitive.
  • adjective Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
  • adjective Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.
  • adjective Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective requiring full use of your abilities or resources
  • adjective having a strong desire for success or achievement

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ambitious, from Old French *ambitieus, from Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux.

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Examples

  • I hear from professional women each day that the term "ambitious" has negative connotations for them.

    Forbes.com: News Kathy Caprino 2011

  • He has faced setbacks in what he calls an "ambitious" plan, including a management shake-up at the core French operations.

    Carrefour Faces Rowdy Protesters Christina Passariello 2011

  • 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.

    CNN Transcript Oct 19, 2005 2005

  • 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.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1998

  • They did not like what they called my ambitious ways -- and so they sent me to the Cold Country.

    Tarrano the Conqueror Ray Cummings 1922

  • 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.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com AP 2012

  • 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.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2012

  • He added: The word 'ambitious' is one we're entirely familiar with.

    NYT > Home Page By KIRK SEMPLE 2011

  • 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.

    Reuters: Press Release 2011

  • 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.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2012

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