Etymologically
Log in

ambitiosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 12:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [am.bɪ.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [am.bit.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

ambitiōsus (feminine ambitiōsa, neuter ambitiōsum, comparative ambitiōsior); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ambitiō (“canvassing for office”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3] De Vaan lists ⟨ambitiō⟩ under eō (“to go”), beside ambiō (“to go round; to solicit”), from ambi- and ⟨eō⟩, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which advises that if an accused man acted for honour, he should be shown to have always been ambitious.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of men anxious to win favour, “ambitious or generous”, and of actions done to please, as the self-seeking, painted friendships he complains of.[2] Ovid applies it to the sea-goddess importunate for her son.[2] The literal sense “winding round, clinging” is rare and mostly poetic: Horace has a woman clinging more than wanton ivy, and Pliny the Elder a river that winds as far as the land allows.[2][6] Gellius notes that it could be said both of one who solicits and of one who is solicited.[2] In Quintilian and Tacitus it is showy, ostentatious.[2]

Church Latin has it for ambitious and vainglorious.[7]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of an ambitious man.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of seeking favour.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of clinging ivy.[2][6][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius on its two senses.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Winding, twining round, clinging.[2][6][1]
  2. Anxious to win favour; of actions, self-seeking, interested.[2]
  3. Insistent in asking, importunate.[2]
  4. Eager for advancement or glory, ambitious.[2][1][7]
  5. ostentatious, showy; vainglorious.[2][1][7]

Word family

  • inambitiōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson