Word definition: 'ambition' • Lucid Lexicon

ambition

Lucid Lexicon

Ancestral Lore

Ancestral Lore of ambition

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"

ambition noun

a side-effect of a shattering and a precursor to shadow weaving

a: an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power
b: desire to achieve a particular end
strong desire for achievement, advancement, or honour; (particularly in early use) excessive or immoderate desire of this type
the object of ambition
US: a desire for activity or exertion

Details

Specific examples and quotes of ambition

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.

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Legend

~☉~	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