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Glite Dictionary
🚀 Eager to succeed 🎯 Very challenging
ambitious

ambitious

128 3.7
Wanting very much to succeed and willing to work hard
  • adjective
  • /æmˈbɪʃəs/
translation icon : ambicioso
  • The ambitious student worked late into the night to finish her project.
  • young and ambitious
  • most ambitious
  • ambitious politician

I got to a point where I was very ambitious, really young.

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Examples

  • I work with founders who are very ambitious and inspiring.

  • I had no idea you were so ambitious.

    Conclave (2024)

  • The aim is ambitious, but so are you.

  • I might be the most ambitious and content person ever.

  • The key is if you are super ambitious, it's hard to do alone.

  • I got to a point where I was very ambitious, really young.

    High Performance

  • And Dalhousie is young and ambitious, and he wants it all.

  • So being ambitious can spur great things.

  • She is intelligent, she is ambitious, she is also pregnant.

    Joy of Sex (1984)

  • It's like NYC is a magnet to the most ambitious, creative and real people.

Synonyms

aspirational
vsambitious
12 5.3

Wanting to be more successful, often shown by luxury brands or lifestyles

describes a personal drive to succeed that requires real determination and work
aspiring
vsambitious
3 3.5

Wanting to become successful in a particular job or activity

is driven to succeed generally and stresses sustained determination and hard work
motivated
vsambitious
2.5

Wanting to work hard to reach a goal

is more about a strong desire to succeed that requires sustained effort
pushful
vsambitious
8.4

Being strongly determined to succeed, often in a pushy way

emphasizes determined effort and steady hard work rather than forceful action

Antonyms

complacent
44 6.4

Too satisfied with yourself so you ignore problems or danger

unambitious
3 4.1

Not wanting to try hard to reach higher goals

Compounds

vaultingly ambitious
  • Literature
8.7

Wanting very great success that is unlikely to happen

How Ambitious

driven
3.5
ambitious
128 3.7
aspiring
3 3.5

Surface Forms

ambitious positive
ambitiouser comparative
ambitiousest superlative

Morphology

ambitious = ambition (transparent) = ambition + ous

Standard noun-to-adjective formation from 'ambition' with meaning 'having ambition', directly predictable from the base.

Etymology

Ambitious comes from the Latin word ambire, which means 'to go around'. People once 'went around' asking for votes or support, so the word grew to mean someone who strongly wants success or power.