- pronunciation:
- aem
bI
sh
s
- features:
- Word History, Word Parts
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
having or showing a strong desire to succeed; having ambition.
She has the ambitious goal of becoming a doctor someday.- synonyms:
- aspiring, determined, enterprising
- antonyms:
- lazy
- similar words:
- climbing, competitive, driving, eager, hungry, intent
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| definition 2: |
requiring great effort to be done successfully.
He has an ambitious plan to lose twenty pounds in two months.- synonyms:
- difficult
- antonyms:
- easy
- similar words:
- bold, brave, daring, energetic, lofty
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| derivation: |
ambitiously (adv.) |
The word
ambitious is from a Latin word that means "to go about" or "walk around." In Roman times, this Latin word,
ambitio, came to have a special meaning. It was used for a man who went around town for a particular reason: to persuade people to vote for him. Today, we would still say that someone who enters an election is ambitious, but the English word now has a wider meaning.