How do you use the word "ambition" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "ambition": It is Tom's ambition to go to the moon. Sony inspires ambition among its employees.

Ambition Meaning

/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounEager 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.

nounAn object of an ardent desire.

Sentence Examples

It is Tom's ambition to go to the moon.

Sony inspires ambition among its employees.

She had fulfilled her lifelong ambition.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

dream

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

Her burning ____ drove her to become a top surgeon.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Her main ____ is to become a successful doctor and help people.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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; […]" — 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:

"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: […]" — 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:

"I on th' other ſide / Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, […]" — 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:

"Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage." — 1746, C Turnbull, The Histories Of Marcus Junianus Justinus:

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