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vaulting

vaulting

8.2
Showing too much pride and wanting to reach very high goals
  • adjective
  • /ˈvɔltɪŋ/
  • Literature
translation icon : desmedido
  • His vaulting ambition led him to launch a startup that reached international markets within just a year.

Examples

  • The athlete's vaulting pride made her believe she could win the championship without training.

  • She had a vaulting sense of self-confidence, convinced that she could achieve her dreams without any obstacles.

  • VAULTING up into a tree

    Fiction book (1992)
  • O sleepless is the river under thee vaulting the sea, the prairies dreaming sod.

Synonyms

overweening
vsvaulting
  • Formal
2 9.8

Too much pride and confidence that makes people dislike you

focuses more on striving to reach very high goals rather than general self importance
overreaching
vsvaulting
1 7.3

Trying to do more than is reasonable or possible

adds proud self confidence and aiming for very high, often unrealistic goals
vaultingly ambitious
vsvaulting
  • Literature
8.7

Wanting very great success that is unlikely to happen

adds a sense of proud self confidence and trying beyond reasonable limits
overproud
vsvaulting
7.2

Believing you are better than other people and acting like it

tends to involve reaching for very high goals rather than pride alone

Antonyms

105 3.8

Being modest and not thinking you are better than other people

27 3.5

Not being proud or bragging about your abilities

Compounds

Jumping over a high bar using a long pole for support

vaulting horse
  • Archaic
1 6.9

A long, solid piece of gymnastics equipment without handles that gymnasts run to and jump over

fan vaulting
  • Specialized
9.1

A stone ceiling with ribs that spread out like a fan in Gothic churches

How Ambitious

vaulting
  • Literature
8.2
ambitious
128 3.7
unambitious
3 4.1

Surface Forms

vaulting positive

Morphology

vaulting = vault (semi-transparent) = vault + ing

Derived from the verb 'vault' but used metaphorically ('leaping beyond proper bounds'); learners may see the relation but the evaluative meaning 'excessive/overreaching' is figurative.

Etymology

Vaulting here comes from vault meaning 'to leap', used by writers to show a jump that goes too far. So vaulting ambition means a desire that tries to reach too high and can lead to a fall.