ambition
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A strong wish to succeed or reach a goal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ambishuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æmˈbɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountablecountable
Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
countable
An object of an ardent desire.
A cherished desire
“His ambition is to own his own business.”
uncountable
A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
verb
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
Used this way, ambition is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Keen and enthusiastic
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use ambition
- “His ambition is to own his own business.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.