ambition

CEFRB1

/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A strong desire to achieve something important or difficult.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.

Examples

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

  • She had fulfilled her lifelong ambition.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An object of an ardent desire.

  2. 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.

  3. A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.

More examples

In context

  • Sony inspires ambition among its employees.

  • My ambition is to own a helicopter.

  • My daughter, Johanna, wants to be a firefighter very much. She has a lot of ambition.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her burning blank drove her to become a top surgeon.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.