AMBITION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ambition mean? 

• AMBITION (noun)
  The noun AMBITION has 2 senses:

1. a cherished desire

2. a strong drive for success

  Familiarity information: AMBITION used as a noun is rare.

• AMBITION (verb)
  The verb AMBITION has 1 sense:

1. have as one's ambition

  Familiarity information: AMBITION used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AMBITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cherished desire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

ambition; aspiration; dream

Context example:

his ambition is to own his own business

Hypernyms ("ambition" is a kind of...):

desire (the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ambition"):

American Dream (the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did)

emulation (ambition to equal or excel)

nationalism (the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination)

Derivation:

ambition (have as one's ambition)

ambitious (requiring full use of your abilities or resources)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A strong drive for success

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ambition; ambitiousness

Hypernyms ("ambition" is a kind of...):

drive (the trait of being highly motivated)

Attribute:

ambitious (having a strong desire for success or achievement)

ambitionless; unambitious (having little desire for success or achievement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ambition"):

aspiration (a will to succeed)

power hunger; status seeking (a drive to acquire power)

Derivation:

ambition (have as one's ambition)

ambitious (having a strong desire for success or achievement)

• AMBITION (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have as one's ambition

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "ambition" is one way to...):

desire; want (feel or have a desire for; want strongly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

ambition (a strong drive for success)

ambition (a cherished desire)

 Context examples 

The unmanned lunar missions are part of China’s ambitions to join the United States and Russia as a major space power.

(Chinese Rover Making Tracks on Dark Side of the Moon, VOA)

Your ambition to get ahead is very strong, and natural forces are working in your favor to help you fulfill a professional dream.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Nevertheless he felt a little prick of ambition, a sneaking desire to have another battle with that ptarmigan hen—only the hawk had carried her away.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I have no ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and Archangel.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It was a characteristic speech, and sounded daring, but audacity becomes young people, and Amy's ambition had a good foundation.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

If I say I've an ambition to make your Agnes my Agnes, I have as good a right to it as another man.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Ambition soared on mad wings, and he saw himself climbing the heights with her, sharing thoughts with her, pleasuring in beautiful and noble things with her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His only apparent ambition, like Dave’s, was to be left alone; though, as Buck was afterward to learn, each of them possessed one other and even more vital ambition.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)