from Latin ambitio "desire for/currying favor/popularity, flattery; pomp; vote canvassing"
amb- "around" (from PIE root *ambhi- "around") + ire "go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go")
1340, ambicioun "eager or inordinate desire for honor or preferment"
In early use ambition was always pejorative, of inordinate or overreaching desire; it was grouped with pride and vainglory, and sometimes meant little more than "arrogance." The neutral or positive senses are contemporary.
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |