AMBITIOUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... discussed who should be his successor in the government in the event of his death. Villa Corta argued that it fell to him as senior magistrate. The discussion came to the knowledge of Anda, and seriously aroused his jealousy. Fearing conspiracy against his ambitious projects, he left his camp at Polo, and hastened to interrogate Villa Corta, who explained that he had only made casual remarks in the course of conversation. Anda, however, was restless on the subject of the succession, ...

— The Philippine Islands • John Foreman

... and indeed in comedy which bordered on farce. But we are inclined to infer from some passages, both in Cecilia and Camilla, that she might have attained equal distinction in the pathetic. We have formed this judgment, less from those ambitious scenes of distress which lie near the catastrophe of each of those novels, than from some exquisite strokes of natural tenderness which take us here and there by surprise. We would mention as examples, Mrs. Hill's account of her little boy's death in Cecilia, ...

— Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... upon the record that any of these men—of either the restless and ambitious, or of the better class—were literally sent away. But such has been the politic practice of this church for many ages; and we may safely believe, that when she was engaged in an unscrupulous and desperate contest for the recovery, ...

— Western Characters - or Types of Border Life in the Western States • J. L. McConnel

... 1864 Bradford, the marine artist, being ambitious to paint icebergs in their native wilds, organized a sailing party for Labrador and invited Wasson to go with them. This was the first enterprise of the kind that gave him permanent benefit. Fortunately they encountered no severe storms. The cool, bracing air of the polar regions was better than ...

— Sketches from Concord and Appledore • Frank Preston Stearns

... chooses His agents for further work from those who, out of their own spontaneous love of Him, have done what lay at their hands. 'To him that hath shall be given.' If you are ambitious of a wider sphere, be sure that you fill your narrow one. It will widen quite ...

— Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts • Alexander Maclaren

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