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单词 ambition
释义

ambitionn.

Brit. /amˈbɪʃn/, U.S. /æmˈbɪʃən/
Forms: Middle English ambicione, Middle English ambicioun, Middle English ambicoun, Middle English ambicyon, Middle English ambitioun, Middle English ambycyone, Middle English ambycyoun, Middle English–1500s ambicion, Middle English–1500s ambycion, 1500s ambityon, 1500s ambycyon, 1500s ambytyon, 1500s–1600s ambytion, 1500s– ambition, 1600s ambistion; Scottish pre-1700 ambicioun, pre-1700 ambitione, pre-1700 ambitioun, pre-1700 ambusioun, pre-1700 ambutioun, pre-1700 1700s– ambition; U.S. regional 1900s– aimbition (Georgia).
Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French ambicioun; Latin ambitiōn-, ambitiō.
Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman ambicioun, ambiciun, ambitiun, Anglo-Norman and Middle French ambicion, Middle French ambition (French ambition ) strong desire for advancement, achievement, or honour (beginning of the 13th cent. in Old French; also in extended uses and with constructions with de + noun or with infinitive; the sense ‘ostentatious display, pomp’ is not paralleled until later: 1487), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin ambitiōn-, ambitiō soliciting of votes, canvassing, striving after popularity, desire for advancement, ostentation, pomp < ambit- , past participial stem of ambīre to go round or about (see ambient adj.) + -iō -ion suffix1.Compare Old Occitan ambitio (14th cent.), Catalan ambició (14th cent.), Spanish ambición (1293), Portuguese ambição (13th cent. as †amiçom ), Italian ambizione (a1275). Specific senses. In sense 6 directly < classical Latin ambitiōn-, ambitiō in its specific sense ‘act of soliciting for votes, canvassing’.
I. Senses relating to a desire for achievement, advancement, or success.
1. Strong desire for achievement, advancement, or honour; (particularly in early use) excessive or immoderate desire of this type. Also in later use: determination to succeed, excel, or prosper; drive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > aspiration, ambition > [noun]
ambition1340
folebayrie1340
high flyinga1586
aspiration1609
ambitude1661
aspiringness1859
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun] > for rank or influence
ambition1340
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 22 Fole wylninge, þet me clepeþ ine clergie ambicion, þet is kuead wilninge heȝe to cliue.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 323 Vicis..as pride, ambicioun, vein glorie.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 40v Ambition is any puft vp greedy humour of honour or preferment.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. i. 22 Lowlynesse is young Ambitions Ladder, Whereto the Climber vpward turnes his Face. View more context for this quotation
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 143. ⁋4 Ambition, Envy, vagrant Desire, or impertinent Mirth will take up our Minds.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xlix. 183 That kind of fame to which you have hitherto..directed your ambition.
1866 W. R. Alger Solitudes Nature & Man iii. 120 Aspiration is a pure upward desire for excellence..; ambition is an inflamed desire to surpass others.
1929 M. Moore Let. 27 Mar. in Sel. Lett. (1997) 247 [He was] quivering with eagerness and ambition at each development.
1969 Times 11 Mar. 7/2 Its restless devotion to revenge, deceit and the pursuit of naked ambition.
2014 P. O'Keeffe Visitors ix. 121 The family complained that I should be more accomplished, that I lacked ambition.
2.
a. Followed by of (also for, formerly †after). A strong desire for something advantageous, highly valued, or indicative of success or achievement. In plural in later use.In quot. ?a1439: a claim to have something; a pretension.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun]
folebayrie1340
ambition?a1439
ambitiousnessa1500
affectation1549
aspire1562
aspiring1584
philotimy1593
ambitiositya1600
aspirement1607
aspiration1609
votea1626
anhelation1628
breathinga1635
drivenness1902
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. l. 1307 Such fals ambiciouns Of goodli honour [emended in ed. to godly honours], which men dede on hym [sc. Alexander] feyne.
1439 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) V. 358 Nogth ambicion of worldly worshipp..but the service that hy sholde entende.
?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 75 The Pictes..were more envegeled with the desier of fraye then inflamed with the ambition of imperie.
1737 A. Pope Corr. (1956) I. Pref. p. xxxvii A juvenile ambition of Wit, or affectation of Gayety.
1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 20 The pitiful Ambition of possessing five or six thousand more Acres.
1883 J. Payn Canon's Ward viii ‘A mugger’—a comprehensive term understood to include all persons with an ambition for University distinction.
1912 J. S. Phillimore tr. Philostratus In Honour of Apollonius of Tyana I. vii. 224 How then can any one think it probable that Nerva has ambitions after Empire, when it is as much as he could hope to be master of his own house?
1926 Motor Boating Nov. 112/2 A. R. Gross..has for the past three years worked hard that his ambitions of a national regatta might be realized.
1981 D. Hobson in A. McRobbie & T. McCabe Feminism for Girls vi. 105 Their experience of comprehensive education had not made them have ambitions for jobs which could be termed as middle class.
2003 T. Ligotti in Weird Tales Sept. 23 I had ambitions of owning a residence in The Hill district.
b. With infinitive. A strong desire to achieve something specified, especially something that is highly valued or respected, or indicative of success or achievement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun]
i-willc888
wilningc888
willingeOE
lustc950
listc1220
desire1303
affection1340
desiring1377
appetite1382
envya1400
wishc1430
desideryc1450
stomach1513
affect1531
wilnec1540
desirefulness1548
woulding1549
desirousness1571
ambition1579
lusting1580
listing1587
maw1601
appetition1603
appetence1610
bosoma1616
orexis1619
desirableness1649
appetency1656
would1753
wanting1801
want-to1903
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xiv. 778 He was possessed with a vehement desire to recouer Parma and Plaisanca, and no lesse ambicion to reduce to him the state of Ferrara.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 133 It is the lesse harmefull, the Ambition to preuaile in great things, then that other to appeare in euery thing.
1745 S. Cibber Let. 9 Nov. in Private Corr. David Garrick (1831) I. 39 I have no ambition to head the Drury-lane militia.
1834 New Monthly Mag. 41 59 In their ambition to be mob-leaders, they were, in fact, mob-led.
1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxi. 378 Everard had such a schoolboyish ambition to ride about on a horse.
1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day i. 79 They engaged in whispered conversations about her ambition to be a nurse.
2006 Decanter June (Argentina 2006 Suppl.) 1/2 An ambition to deliver quality wines at the premium end of the market.
3. The object of a person's strong desire; something wished for or desired. Also in later use: something aspired to or sought after; a goal, aim.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun] > object of aspiration
ambitionc1475
markc1550
prize1569
Americaa1631
will to win1917
c1475 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1974) 153 Myn auncient enmyes make me werre outward by fyre and glayue, and ye make me werre inwarde by your couetyse and ill ambicions.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iii. 55 My Crowne, mine owne ambition, and my Queene. View more context for this quotation
1798 J. Ferriar Illustr. Sterne i. 21 To jest was the ambition of the best company.
1832 C. Darwin Let. 6 Apr. in Corr. (1985) I. 220 I shall thus see, what has been so long my ambition, virgin forest uncut by man & tenanted by wild beasts.
1921 Railway Maintenance of Way Employees Jrnl. May 18/2 Money hungry parasites whose only ambition is power and prestige.
1974 S. Terkel Working vii. 365 My ambition is to win the Kentucky Derby.
2005 E. Barr Plan B (2006) xxxvi. 374 Her ambition was to work in America.
4. With preceding word: desire to succeed or achieve a goal within a specified field or context. Chiefly in plural and with modifier.
ΚΠ
1843 Illustr. London News 9 Sept. 161/1 They [sc. monarchs] may..indulge the graces of friendship without a thought of their being tainted with political ambitions.
1891 O. Wilde Picture of Dorian Gray iii. 63 I myself used to have literary ambitions, but I gave them up long ago.
1974 Financial Times 17 Sept. 18/8 Ferranti must either contract and drastically scale down its technological ambitions, or become part of a larger group.
1991 Economist 21 Dec. 70/1 The South is now aiming for a three-part defanging of its neighbour's nuclear ambition.
2013 New Yorker 10 June 92/2 He..promoted himself as ‘Christopher Chichester’, a minor British aristocrat with movie-industry ambitions.
II. Other uses.
5. Ostentation, pomp; (also) an instance of this; an ostentatious display. Obsolete.In quot. a1450: arrogance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun]
boast1297
strut1303
bombancec1325
bobantc1330
bobancec1380
ambitionc1384
oliprancec1390
pretence?a1439
ostentationa1475
pransawtea1500
bravity1546
finesse1549
bravery1573
overlashing1579
brave1596
peacockry1596
garishness1598
maggot ostentation1598
ostent1609
flaunta1625
spectability1637
vantation1637
fastuousness1649
fastuosity1656
finery1656
parade1656
phantastry1656
ostentatiousness1658
éclat1704
pretension1706
braw1724
swell1724
showiness1730
ostensibility1775
fanfaronade1784
display1816
showing off1822
glimmer1827
tigerism1836
peacockery1844
show-off1846
flare1847
peacockism1854
swank1854
tigerishness1869
flashness1888
flamboyance1891
peacockishness1892
flamboyancy1896
swankiness1920
plushness1949
glitziness1982
fantasia-
fantastication-
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxv. 23 Agrippa and Bernyce camen with moche ambicioun [L. ambitione], or pryde of staat.
a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) l. 1265 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 435 (MED) To pleye with seyntys kometh off ambicioun.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1958) IX. 293 Costly and expensive ambitions at Court.
6. The action of seeking to obtain an office or position through underhand means; esp. the use of bribery to gain electoral support. Cf. ambitus n. 1. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1450 (a1400) R. Lavynham Treat. Seven Deadly Sins (Harl. 211) (1956) 7 (MED) Ambicyon is..plesyng lordis lowlich to be a vancyd þe heyer, flateryng & plesyng hem þt mowe maken hym gret.
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. xvi. sig. di Certayne lawes were made by the Romaynes..named the lawes of Ambition.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 247 I on th' other side Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds. View more context for this quotation
1677 tr. A.-N. Amelot de La Houssaie Hist. Govt. Venice 13 This bartering and ambition of Office was forbidden.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

ambitionv.

Brit. /amˈbɪʃn/, U.S. /æmˈbɪʃən/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; perhaps partly modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: ambition n.
Etymology: < ambition n. In later use perhaps after French ambitionner to desire (something) strongly, to be ambitious of (something) (a1630).With sense 2 compare earlier ambitionize v.
1.
a. transitive. To strongly desire; to be ambitious of. Also with clause as object.In quot. 1601 intransitive: to aspire, aim.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > desire strongly or eagerly [verb (transitive)]
to gape uponc1340
galp1546
gape1552
to gape ata1586
to die for1591
ambition1601
raven1607
ambigate1633
ambitionate?c1642
ambiate1659
sparkle1665
to be for1673
efflagitate1676
greed1848
to be spoiling for1865
1601 A. Copley Answere to Let. Iesuited Gentleman 17 The Iesuits are a societie so inferiour to all other religious Orders, and yet ambitioning aboue them all.
1602 A. Copley Another Let. to Dis-iesuited Kinseman 8 His doctrine of..libelling against innocents, ambitioning rule in the Church of God.
1664 Marquis of Worcester in H. Dircks Life 2nd Marquis Worcester (1865) xvii. 270 Whatever I have or do ambition.
1723 E. Jesup Life J. Picus 14 in Lives Picus & Pascal He never ambition'd the Grandure of a great Prince.
1823 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 2nd Ser. I. 268 Every noble youth..ambitioned the notice of the Lady Arabella.
1920 J. I. Gálvez Internat. Confl. 50 Enough..to influence the arbitrator into giving her if not all, at least some part of the districts she ambitions.
1989 J. G. Milhaven Good Anger iii. 37 His greatest ambition in life had been to do learned criticism. He had never ambitioned anything else.
2003 C. Lowney Heroic Leadership vii. 141 Though he never ambitioned a large religious order, his charismatic appeal attracted thousands to live a poor, simple life.
b. transitive. With infinitive. To strongly desire to do or be something.
ΚΠ
1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa IV. ii. viii. 746 Many thousands of People who ambition'd to invest him in it.
1760 Universal Mag. 27 Suppl. 338/1 We need not say how much Dr. Mead ambitioned to tread after him to the utmost of his abilities in those steps.
1818 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 453 Who ambitioned to be his correspondent.
1903 J. P. Rushe Carmel in Ireland xvii. 291 They ambition to lead the life of Religious amid the fret and worry of temporal affairs.
1973 H. Nemerov Gnomes & Occasions in Coll. Poems (1981) 424 I ambitioned to be christlike, and forgive thee.
2011 P. R. Girard Slaves who defeated Napoleon xiii. 254 Both Derance and Dessalines ambitioned to become general in chief of all rebel forces.
2. transitive. To cause (a person) to desire something strongly; to make ambitious of. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > aspire to or to do [verb (transitive)] > make ambitious
ambitionize1600
ambitiona1628
a1628 F. Greville Life of Sidney (1651) Ded. sig. A4 Who..hath ambition'd me to make this offering.
1891 ‘M. Twain’ What is Man? (1917) vi. 105 These have exalted him, enthused him, ambitioned him to higher and higher flights.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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