Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Ambitious
1.
Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
Yet Brutus says he was
And Brutus is an honorable man.
ambitious
,And Brutus is an honorable man.
Shakespeare
2.
Strongly desirous; – followed by of or the infinitive;
as,
. ambitious
to be or to do somethingI was not
ambitious of
seeing this ceremony. Evelyn.
Studious of song, and yet
ambitious
not to sing in vain. Cowper.
3.
Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring;
as, an
. ambitious
styleA giant statue . . .
Pushed by a wild and artless race,
From off wide,
Pushed by a wild and artless race,
From off wide,
ambitious
base. Collins.
Webster 1828 Edition
Ambitious
AMBI'TIOUS
,Adj.
1.
Desirous of power, honor, office, superiority or excellence; aspiring; eager for fame; followed by of before a noun; as ambitious of glory.2.
Showy; adapted to command notice or praise; as, ambitious ornaments.3.
Figuratively, eager to swell or rise higher; as, the ambitious ocean.Definition 2024
ambitious
ambitious
English
Adjective
ambitious (comparative ambitiouser or more ambitious, superlative ambitiousest or most ambitious)
- Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
- 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Man with the Twisted Lip,"
- As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation.
- 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Man with the Twisted Lip,"
- Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.
- Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.
- an ambitious style
- Hard to achieve.
- 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
- A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. This set-up solves several problems […] . Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?
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Usage notes
- Said of people, projects, plans, goals, etc.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
possessing, or controlled by, ambition
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strongly desirous
showy
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References
- “ambitious” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- ambitious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- “ambitious” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
- “ambitious” in Microsoft's Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition (2007)
- "ambitious" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
- "ambitious" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
- “ambitious” in the Compact Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2007)