unambitiousadj.
/ˌʌnamˈbɪʃəs/, U.S. /ˌənˌæmˈbɪʃəs/ Not ambitious or aspiring; devoid of ambition.
a. Of thoughts, occupations, productions, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > humility > modesty > [adjective] > modest or unpretentious specifically of things
modest1582
lowly1637
submiss1638
verecundiousa1639
unambitious1713
quiet1768
chastea1797
unassuminga1807
unshowy1838
low-keyed1878
low key1897
1606 No-body & Some-body sig. G My vnambitious thoughts haue bin long tird, With this great charge.
1656 A. Cowley Praise of Pindar iv Whilst, alas, my tim'erous Muse Unambitious tracks pursues.
1713 Guard. No. 167. ⁋3 Train them up in the humble unambitious Pursuits of Knowledge.
1768 J. Boswell Acct. Corsica Ded. p. v Predicting greatness to those who afterwards pass their days in unambitious indolence.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion v. 206 The calm delights Of unambitious piety he chose. View more context for this quotation
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands iii. xviii. 430 The bottom of this unambitious window..is but four feet from the ground.
1887 Spectator 25 Mar. 421/2 He can produce an unambitious though not unsatisfying tiny cabinet picture.
b. Of persons, the mind, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > humility > modesty > [adjective]
simplec1300
measurablec1330
methec1390
murec1390
smallc1405
soleinc1450
timorous1474
modest1561
unbragging1570
unboldened1591
unpresuming1607
bragless1609
unambitious1621
boastless1632
unpompous1656
verecundous1656
sober1659
tender-foreheaded1659
unpragmatical1673
unpretending1681
unpresumptuous1704
unimportant1727
unaspiringa1729
inambitious1729
unassuming1730
unostentatiousa1739
unboastful1744
pretensionless1748
unarrogating1748
uncontending1748
unopinionated1775
unboasting1802
underbearing1802
mousy1812
un-ultra1817
unarrogant1831
low-flying1835
unconceited1838
unpretentious1838
uninflated1861
unvain1863
unbumptious1865
1621 G. Sandys tr. Ovid First Five Bks. Metamorphosis i. 4 Then, vnambitious Mortals knew no more But their owne Countrie's Nature-bounded shore.
1728 E. Young Love of Fame: Universal Passion (ed. 2) ii. 291 Is thy ambition sweating for a rhyme; Thou unambitious fool, at this late time?
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 798 An unambitious mind, content In the low vale of life.
1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III lxiv. 37 Stainless victories, Won by the unambitious heart and hand Of a proud, brotherly, and civic band.
1893 H. P. Liddon et al. Life E. B. Pusey I. App. 455 That unenterprising and unambitious but useful class of the English gentry.
Derivatives
unamˈbitiously adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > humility > modesty > [adverb]
lowlyc1350
demurelyc1400
lowlily1415
simplyc1430
murely1474
littlya1500
modestly1569
unpretendingly1701
unambitiously1746
meeverly1757
unpresumptuously1758
unostentatiously1771
unconceitedly1812
unpretentiously1852
unassertively1981
1746 J. Hervey Medit. (1818) 120 While others, free from all aspiring views, creep unambitiously on the ground, and look like the commonalty of the kind.
1791 S. T. Coleridge Math. Probl. iii. 10 Unambitiously join'd in equality's band.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion vii. 331 That monumental Stone..unambitiously relates How long..The sad privation was by him endured. View more context for this quotation
1846 E. Bulwer-Lytton Lucretia I. i. i. 22 He felt a lively satisfaction at the thought of leaving his friend honourably, if unambitiously, provided for.
unamˈbitiousness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > indifference > [noun] > lack of ambition
unambitiousnessa1755
unambition1781
unaspiringness1861
a1755 Conybeare (Mason) Others through unambitiousness of temper are gradually sinking.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1606