ambitious
/amˈbɪʃəs
/adjective
1Having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed: a ruthlessly ambitious woman...
- Is he ambitious and keen to succeed by seeing you enjoy commercial success?
- As Cesarani demonstrates, Eichmann was an ambitious man determined to do his job well.
- They were determined and ambitious in their playing, but their performances were a mixed bag.
Synonyms
aspiring, determined, forceful, pushy, enterprising, pioneering, progressive, eager, motivated, driven, enthusiastic, energetic, zealous, committed, go-ahead, go-getting, purposeful, assertive, aggressive, hungry, power-hungry
informal on the make
eager, determined, enthusiastic, desirous, anxious, hungry, impatient, striving, yearning, longing, wishing, itching, dying, hoping, avid, hankering;
intent on
informal raring
1.1(Of a plan or piece of work) intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve: an ambitious enterprise...
- The project proposes the most ambitious plans for the parish church in over 100 years.
- It was a bold and ambitious plan that took no account of the terrain or local conditions.
- To make the ambitious plans work, the house next door also had to be bought.
Synonyms
difficult, exacting, demanding, formidable, challenging, hard, arduous, onerous, tough, stiff, strenuous;
bold, grandiose, extravagant, monumental
informal killing, hellish
British informal knackering
archaic toilsome
Derivatives
ambitiously
/ adverb ...- Most ambitiously, in 1961 an 11-metre-tall Jacob Epstein sculpture was displayed on the roof of Waverley Market.
- He dealt with something ambitiously named ‘life coaching’, which is a service that some businesses provide for top staff.
- ‘I see us competing for the national championship,’ he declared ambitiously.
ambitiousness
/ noun ...- She tried to figure out when she lost her drive, her ambitiousness, when she lost her will power.
- Inherent in this are his qualities of individuality, ambitiousness, justice, and straightforwardness.
- But it has a depth and ambitiousness that are worthy of praise.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French ambitieux or Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio (see ambition).
Rhymes
- forceps
- force pump
- forcer
- force-ripe
- for certain
- force someone out
- force someone's hand
- force something down
- force something on/upon
- force the bidding
- force the issue
- force the pace
- forcible
- forcibly
- forcing
- forcing house
- for crying out loud
- ford
- fordable
- for dear life
- for dear (or one's) life
- Ford, Ford Madox
- Ford, Gerald
- Fordham
- Ford, Harrison