When candidates for public office in ancient Rome wanted to be elected, they had to do just what modern candidates must do. They had to spend most of their time going around the city urging the citizens to vote for them. The Latin word for this effort was ambitio, which came from ambire, a verb meaning “to go around.” Since this activity was caused by a desire for honor or power, the word eventually came to mean “the desire for honor or power.” This word came into French and English as ambition in the late Middle Ages. Later its meaning broadened to include “an admirable desire for advancement or improvement” and still later “the object of this desire.”
ambition applies to the desire for personal advancement or preferment and may suggest equally a praiseworthy or an inordinate desire.
driven by ambition
aspiration implies a striving after something higher than oneself.
an aspiration to become president someday
pretension suggests ardent desire for recognition of accomplishment often without actual possession of the necessary ability and therefore may imply presumption.
has literary pretensions
Example Sentences
Noun My first ambition as a child was to be in the circus. He lacked ambition and couldn't compete with the others.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Tony Iommi appears on an Ozzy solo album — are satisfying in their ambition and urgency. Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 9 Sep. 2022 When Baribeau arrived at Catholic Medical Center in 1992, the recently married 36-year-old surgeon was searching for a busy, growing practice to absorb his restless ambition.BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2022 As part of the program, each senior was asked to stand and announce their ambition. Nancy Anderson, Good Housekeeping, 5 Sep. 2022 As Beijing builds its power and elevates its ambition, Asia has become Washington’s principal focus in its defense of American global influence and the system of relationships, norms, and ideals that supports it. Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2022 Ryan’s dad, Damion Hickman, is impressed with his fearlessness in front of the camera and his ambition. Sarah Sekula, USA TODAY, 24 Aug. 2022 Its share price ended Monday down more than 45% since Mr. Gelsinger detailed his chip-making ambition last year, compared with an 8% retreat in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Asa Fitch, WSJ, 23 Aug. 2022 Spiegel and his team deserve a pinch of praise for their ambition. Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 19 Aug. 2022 Your ambition regarding personal and professional matters may be supercharged today.Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug. 2022
Verb
But the Kushners’ empire, like Trump’s, was underwritten by years of dealing in much more modestly ambitioned properties. Alec Macgillis/propublica, New York Times, 23 May 2017 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English ambicioun, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French ambicion, borrowed from Latin ambitiōn-, ambitiō "act of soliciting for votes, running for public office, striving after popularity, desire for advancement," from ambīre "to encircle, visit in rotation, solicit (political support), seek to obtain" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at ambient entry 1