ambition

• n. 野心，雄心；抱負，誌向
• vt. 追求；有…野心

前綴ambi-, 兩邊，周圍。詞根it , 走。向周圍走，向外走，目標。

ambition

ambition: [14] Like ambient, ambition comes ultimately from the Latin compound verb ambīre ‘go round’ (formed from the prefix ambi-, as in AMBIDEXTROUS, and the verb īre ‘go’, which also gave English exit, initial, and itinerant). But while ambient, a 16th-century acquisition, remains fairly faithful to the literal meaning of the verb, ambition depends on a more metaphorical use.

It seems that the verb’s nominal derivative, ambitiō, developed connotations of ‘going around soliciting votes’ – ‘canvassing’, in fact – and hence, figuratively, of ‘seeking favour or honour’. When the word was first borrowed into English, via Old French ambition, it had distinctly negative associations of ‘greed for success’ (Reginald Pecock writes of ‘Vices [such] as pride, ambition, vainglory’, The repressor of overmuch blaming of the clergy 1449), but by the 18th century it was a more respectable emotion.
=> exit, initial, itinerant

ambition (n.)

mid-14c., from Middle French ambition or directly from Latin ambitionem (nominative ambitio) "a going around," especially to solicit votes, hence "a striving for favor, courting, flattery; a desire for honor, thirst for popularity," noun of action from past participle stem of ambire "to go around" (see ambient).

Rarely used in the literal sense in English, where it carries the secondary Latin sense of "eager or inordinate desire of honor or preferment." In early use always pejorative, of inordinate or overreaching desire; ambition was grouped with pride and vainglory.

1. He is a man of extraordinary vitality, driving ambition and political nous.

他是一個精力非凡、誌向遠大、政治上很有見識的人。

來自柯林斯例句

2. Gregory'sfather had implanted in him an ambition to obtain an education.

格雷戈裏的父親早就向他灌輸了要接受教育的誌向。

來自柯林斯例句

3. He had nursed an ambition to lead his own big orchestra.

他一直有一個夢想，希望能指揮一支自己的頂級管弦樂隊。

來自柯林斯例句

4. His ambition was to win gold at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

他的誌向是在1996年亞特蘭大奧運會上奪取金牌。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Her father had found an outlet for his ambition in his work.

她父親在工作中找到了施展抱負的機會。

來自柯林斯例句