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ambition
CIDE DICTIONARY
ambition, n. [F. ambition, L. ambitio a going around, especially of candidates for office is Rome, to solicit votes (hence, desire for office or honor), fr. ambire to go around. See Ambient, Issue.].
- The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing. [1913 Webster]"[I] used no ambition to commend my deeds." [1913 Webster]
- An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something. [1913 Webster]"Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition:
By that sin fell the angels." [1913 Webster]"The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres." [1913 Webster]
ambition, v. t. [Cf. F. ambitionner.].
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet. [1913 Webster]
"Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
ambition, n.
1 (often foll. by to + infin.) the determination to achieve success or distinction, usu. in a chosen field.
2 the object of this determination.
1 (often foll. by to + infin.) the determination to achieve success or distinction, usu. in a chosen field.
2 the object of this determination.
Etymology
ME f. OF f. L ambitio -onis f. ambire ambit- canvass for votes: see AMBIENT
DEVIL DICTIONARY
ambition
n. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.THESAURUS
ambition
aim, ambitiousness, animus, anxiety, appetite, aspiration, avidity, basis, calling, careerism, catch, cause, climbing, consideration, counsel, craving, dearest wish, desideration, desideratum, design, desire, determination, dream, drive, eagerness, effect, energy, enterprise, enthusiasm, fancy, fixed purpose, forbidden fruit, function, get-up-and-go, glimmering goal, go-ahead, goad, goal, golden vision, ground, guiding light, guiding star, hope, hunger, idea, ideal, incentive, initiative, inspiration, intendment, intent, intention, keenness, lodestar, lodestone, lofty ambition, magnanimity, magnet, mainspring, mark, matter, meaning, mind, motive, nirvana, nisus, object, objective, plan, plum, point, power-hunger, pretension, principle, prize, project, proposal, prospectus, purpose, push, reason, resolution, resolve, sake, score, social climbing, source, spirit, spring, spur, status-seeking, striving, study, target, temptation, thirst, trophy, ulterior motive, vaulting ambition, view, vigor, vocation, will, wish, zealROGET THESAURUS
ambition
Intention
N intent, intention, intentionality, purpose, quo animo, project, undertaking, predetermination, design, ambition, contemplation, mind, animus, view, purview, proposal, study, look out, final cause, raison d'etre, cui bono, object, aim, end, the be all and the end all, drift, tendency, destination, mark, point, butt, goal, target, bull's-eye, quintain, prey, quarry, game, decision, determination, resolve, fixed set purpose, settled purpose, ultimatum, resolution, wish, arriere pensee, motive, teleology, intended, intentional, advised, express, determinate, prepense, bound for, intending, minded, bent upon, at stake, on the anvil, on the tapis, in view, in prospect, in the breast of, in petto, teleological, intentionally, advisedly, wittingly, knowingly, designedly, purposely, on purpose, by design, studiously, pointedly, with intent, deliberately, with one's eyes open, in cold blood, for, with a view, with an eye to, in order to, in order that, to the end that, with the intent that, for the purpose of, with the view of, in contemplation of, on account of, in pursuance of, pursuant to, quo animo, to all intents and purposes, The road to hell is paved with good intentions, sublimi feriam sidera vertice.Desire
N desire, wish, fancy, fantasy, want, need, exigency, mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection, propensity, willingness, liking, love, fondness, relish, longing, hankering, inkling, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, coveting, aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition, eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety, impetuosity, appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency, sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist, thirst, thirstiness, drouth, mouthwatering, itch, itching, prurience, cacoethes, cupidity, lust, concupiscence, edge of appetite, edge of hunger, torment of Tantalus, sweet tooth, lickerish tooth, itching palm, longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye, greed, voracity, passion, rage, furore, mania, manie, inextinguishable desire, dipsomania, kleptomania, lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant, cormorant, desideratum, want, a consummation devoutly to be wished, attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol, whim, whimsy, whimsey, maggot, hobby, hobby-horse, Fortunatus's cap, wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well, desirous, desiring, inclined, partial to, fain, wishful, optative, anxious, wistful, curious, at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous, craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy, hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear, greedy, unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked, unsaturated, eager, avid, keen, burning, fervent, ardent, agog, all agog, breathless, impatient, bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon, mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire, aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching, desirable, desired, in demand, pleasing, appetizing, appetible, tantalizing, wistfully, fain, Int, would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual, the wish being father to the thought, sua cuique voluptas, hoc erat in votis, the mouth watering, the fingers itching, aut Caesar aut nullus, Cassius has a lean and hungry look, hungry as the grave, I was born to other things, not what we wish but what we want, such joy ambition finds, the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none, ubi mel ibi apes.Also see definition of "ambition" in Bible Study Dictionaries
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