ambition, aspiration, pretension mean strong desire for advancement.
ambition applies to the desire for personal advancement or preferment and may suggest equally a praiseworthy or an inordinate desire.
AMBITION definition: 1.
a strong wish to achieve something: 2.
a strong wish to be successful, powerful, rich, etc..
Learn more.
AMBITION definition: an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.
See examples of ambition used in a.
An eager or strong desire to achieve something, such as fame or power.
b.
The object or goal desired: Her ambition is the presidency.
2.
Desire for exertion or activity; energy: had no ambition to go dancing.
Ambition is a strong desire to achieve.
It's what Macbeth had too much of, and what slackers have too little of.
If a person has ambition, the goal is usually wealth, power, or fame.
This Middle English word.
If you have an ambition to do or achieve something, you want very much to do it or achieve it.
His ambition is to sail round the world.
He harboured ambitions of becoming a Tory MP.
[uncountable] the desire or strength of mind to be successful, rich, powerful, etc.
She was driven by personal ambition.
She was intelligent but suffered from a lack of ambition.
Mar 28, 2026 · ambition (countable and uncountable, plural ambitions) (uncountable, countable) Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority,.
He has ambitions for an acting career.
= He has ambitions to become an actor.
= His ambition is to be/become an actor.
She finally achieved/realized/fulfilled her life's ambition [=the thing she most.
AMBITION meaning: 1.
a strong wish to achieve something: 2.
a strong wish to be successful, powerful, rich, etc..
Learn more.
