AMBITIOUS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Ambitious

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adjective

Ambitious adj.

Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction. "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man."

Strongly desirous; followed by of or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something. "I was not ambitious of seeing this ceremony." "Studious of song, and yet ambitious not to sing in vain."

Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring; as, an ambitious style. "A giant statue... Pushed by a wild and artless race, From off wide, ambitious base."

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Etymology of 'Ambitious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ambitious" Quotes from Famous Books

... apparently inconsistent characters, of her husband's mistress, and her own very obsequious and complaisant confidant. By this dexterous management the Queen secured her power against the danger which might most have threatened it—the thwarting influence of an ambitious rival; and if she submitted to the mortification of being obliged to connive at her husband's infidelity, she was at least guarded against what she might think its most dangerous effects, and was besides at liberty, now and then, to bestow ...

— The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott

... needed as an introduction to a work of far more ambitious character, than any which I have before attempted. In venturing to select a subject from the history of Rome, during its earlier ages, undeterred by the failure or, at the best, partial success of writers far more eminent than I can ever hope to become, I have been actuated by reasons, ...

— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) • Henry William Herbert

... a conflict of physical and chemical forces, does not despair of one day obtaining artificially organisable matter—protoplasm, as the official jargon has it. If it were in my power I should hasten to satisfy this ambitious gentleman. ...

— Social Life in the Insect World • J. H. Fabre

... faith," he broke in, "you need a bold, ambitious soldier for your Governor. What think you, ...

— The Black Wolf's Breed - A Story of France in the Old World and the New, happening - in the Reign of Louis XIV • Harris Dickson

... perpetuated what he has seen with his own bodily eyes; and for that reason alone his unpretending little sketches may, perhaps, have more interest for those who come across them in another hundred years than many an ambitious historical or classical canvas that has cost its painter infinite labour, imagination, and research, and won for him in his own time the highest rewards in money, fame, and Academical distinction. For genius alone can keep such fancy-work as this alive, ...

— The History of "Punch" • M. H. Spielmann

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