ambition

Pronunciation

• IPA: /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ambicioun, borrowed from Old French ambicion or directly Latin ambitiō (“a going round, canvassing for votes”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from ambiō (“to go around”) (see ambient), from amb- (“around”) and eō (“to go”).^[2][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An ardent, in early use inordinate, desire for honour or advancement: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense developed in Latin from candidates in Rome going round to canvass votes, to a striving for favour, and then to a desire for fame.^[2][3][7] In early English use it was always unfavourable, grouped with pride and vainglory.^[3] Ostentation is an obsolete sense of 1382, and canvassing for honours of 1531.^[8] A strong desire for anything good is from 1607, and the object of such a desire from 1602.^[8] An obsolete verb, to make ambitious, is from before 1628.^[8] In Irish and American dialect to ambition something was to aspire to it.^[9]

Timeline

• 1340 – a desire for honour.^[2][8]
• 1382 – ostentation (obsolete).^[8]
• 1602 – the object of desire.^[8]
• 1607 – any strong desire.^[8]
• before 1628 – to ambition (verb).^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A strong desire to achieve something, such as success, power or fame.
2. The goal or object desired.
3. Desire for activity; energy.

Word family

• ambitionless
• ambitionlessly

Related words

• ambience
• ambient
• ambit
• ambitious

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)