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Synonym Chooser

How is the word ambition different from other nouns like it?

The words aspiration and pretension are common synonyms of ambition. While all three words mean "strong desire for advancement," ambition applies to the desire for personal advancement or preferment and may suggest equally a praiseworthy or an inordinate desire.

driven by ambition

When would aspiration be a good substitute for ambition?

Although the words aspiration and ambition have much in common, aspiration implies a striving after something higher than oneself.

an aspiration to become president someday

In what contexts can pretension take the place of ambition?

In some situations, the words pretension and ambition are roughly equivalent. However, pretension suggests ardent desire for recognition of accomplishment often without actual possession of the necessary ability and therefore may imply presumption.

has literary pretensions

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ambition So there is this constant tension within him between human-ness and party-ness, where on the one hand Xi Zhongxun was someone with his own views, his own ambitions, and his own emotions. Emily Feng, NPR, 28 May 2025 SpaceX kicked off the year with the ambition to launch as many as 25 Starship test flights in 2025, a goal that now seems to be unattainable. ArsTechnica, 28 May 2025 In this edition of CNBC Meets, Cher speaks to Tania Bryer about the ambition that drove her success, activism and why her next album might be her last. Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 27 May 2025 Even with big ambitions, Evans is still drawing cautious lines around where Hot Ones can go. Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 27 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for ambition
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ambition
Noun
  • However, for this to succeed and to accomplish the country’s growth aspirations, the government will have to introduce significant reforms designed at making the economy more productive, competitive, and inclusive.
    Vasuki Shastry, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
  • Reubens grew up performing plays on a stage that his father built in the basement of their home in Sarasota, Florida, with early aspirations of becoming an actor.
    Erin Jensen, USA Today, 24 May 2025
Noun
  • Hastings earlier this year made a $50 million gift to Bowdoin College, his alma mater, to establish a research initiative on AI and Humanity.
    Todd Spangler, Variety, 28 May 2025
  • This initiative builds on the core insights from our series, which first explored how corporate DEI efforts faltered under the weight of overpromising and underdelivering, implicating marketing strategy in exposing that gap.
    Gillian Oakenfull, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
Noun
  • Those goals were just the fourth and fifth in 14 games this spring.
    Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 26 May 2025
  • The goal is to haul Ford vehicles from the Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships anywhere in the nation.
    Jamie L. LaReau, USA Today, 26 May 2025
Noun
  • While an immigration judge in Louisiana has found Khalil deportable based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination, his lawyers separately brought the federal court case to ask Farbiaz to weigh in on the constitutional issues at play.
    Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 29 May 2025
  • And there is determination and Stovall has plenty of that.
    Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2025
Noun
  • The first funerals with caissons will be limited to troops killed in action, recipients of the Medal of Honor or Prisoner of War Medal and high-ranking service members.
    Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, 27 May 2025
  • Three states, Colorado, Maine and Illinois, unsuccessfully attempted to remove Trump from the ballot based on his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
    Ariel Sheinberg, Baltimore Sun, 26 May 2025
Noun
  • This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, or cryptocurrency advice.
    William Jones, USA Today, 22 May 2025
  • As new innovations take hold and produce positive results, remember to prune old practices that are no longer working or have outlived their purpose.
    Michael B. Horn, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
Noun
  • Have the Yankees used that fifth inning for motivation or just flushed it?
    Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2025
  • The process is also shaped by a long-term signaling process where candidates express interest or withdraw based on personal motivations and interactions with the current leader.
    Matthew F. Erskine, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
Noun
  • One of drive, skill, and physicality, and the two midfielders both possess the engine to return to their defensive positions quickly when needed.
    James Nalton, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2023
  • Potentially more significant are subsidies paid to companies that manufacture batteries in the United States, part of a drive by the Biden administration to establish a domestic supply chain and reduce dependence on China.
    Jack Ewing, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Ambition.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ambition. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.

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