ambitious

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: am=bi=tious

CIDE DICTIONARY

ambitious, a. [L. ambitiosus: cf. F. ambitieux. See Ambition.].

•  Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.  [1913 Webster]

  "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
  And Brutus is an honorable man."  [1913 Webster]
•  Strongly desirous; -- followed by of or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.  [1913 Webster]

  "I was not ambitious of seeing this ceremony."  [1913 Webster]

  "Studious of song, and yet ambitious not to sing in vain."  [1913 Webster]
•  Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring; as, an ambitious style.  [1913 Webster]

  "A giant statue . . .
  Pushed by a wild and artless race,
  From off wide, ambitious base."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ambitious, adj.
1 a full of ambition. b showing ambition (an ambitious attempt).
2 (foll. by of, or to + infin.) strongly determined.

Derivative

ambitiously adv. ambitiousness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF ambitieux f. L ambitiosus (as AMBITION)

THESAURUS

ambitious

adventuresome, adventurous, aggressive, anxious, aspiring, audacious, avaricious, avid, bold, careerist, careeristic, chimerical, classy, daring, driving, dynamic, eager, emulous, energetic, enterprising, enthusiastic, extravagant, fancy, flossy, forceful, go-ahead, grandiose, greedy, hard-working, high-flown, high-flying, high-reaching, high-toned, highfalutin, highfaluting, hopeful, hustling, impractical, indefatigable, keen, lofty, on the make, ostentatious, overambitious, overzealous, power-hungry, pretentious, pushful, pushing, pushy, sky-aspiring, social-climbing, tony, unrealistic, up-and-coming, utopian, vaulting, vaunting, venturesome, venturous, vigorous, visionary, yuppy, zealous

ROGET THESAURUS

ambitious

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.