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Here’s an example – this is yesterday’s word.
am·bi·tion /æmˈbɪʃən/ noun
plural am·bi·tions
1 [count] : a particular goal or aim : something that a person hopes to do or achieve
▪ My first ambition as a child was to be in the circus. ▪ The wife of a famous poet, she had literary ambitions of her own. [=she wanted to be a writer too] ▪ He has ambitions for an acting career. = He has ambitions to become an actor. = His ambition is to be/become an actor. ▪ She finally achieved/realized/fulfilled her life’s ambition [=the thing she most wanted to do in her life] when she started her own business.
2 [noncount] : a desire to be successful, powerful, or famous
▪ He lacked ambition and couldn’t compete with the others. ▪ With her talent and fierce ambition [=her very strong desire to succeed], she became a very successful actress.
3 [noncount] US : a desire to do things and be active — usually used in negative constructions ▪ I was tired and had no ambition [=initiative, energy], so I just spent the whole weekend watching TV.
When you learn a new word, I always recommend looking up other parts of the word. For example, is there an adjective form? A verb form? An adverb form? Can you use all of the forms in a sentence?
She had a lot of ambitions.
She was a very ambitious person.
She studied ambitiously so that she would pass the exam.
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