September 12, 2011 - ambition (noun) - What does it mean? - 1 a
: an eager desire for social standing, fame, or power b : desire
to achieve a particular goal : aspiration2 : the particular goal
of one's desires - How do you use it? - Ben loves to play the
saxophone, and his greatest ambition is to become good enough to
play professionally as part of a jazz band. - Are you a word
wiz? There is one human activity that has more to do with the
development of the word "ambition" than any other. Which
activity do you think gave us all "ambition"?We hope you voted
for answer C! Just like their modern counterparts, candidates
for public office in ancient Rome had to spend a lot of time
going around the city urging the citizens to vote for them. The
Latin word for this effort was "ambitio," which came from
"ambire," a verb meaning "to go around." Since this "ambition"
is caused by a desire for honor or power, the word eventually
came to mean "the desire for honor or power." Middle French
adopted the word's "quest for