ambition

• n. 野心，雄心；抱负，志向
• vt. 追求；有…野心

前缀ambi-, 两边，周围。词根it , 走。向周围走，向外走，目标。

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.

他是一个精力非凡、志向远大、政治上很有见识的人。

来自柯林斯例句

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

格雷戈里的父亲早就向他灌输了要接受教育的志向。

来自柯林斯例句

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

他一直有一个梦想，希望能指挥一支自己的顶级管弦乐队。

来自柯林斯例句

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

他的志向是在1996年亚特兰大奥运会上夺取金牌。

来自柯林斯例句

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

她父亲在工作中找到了施展抱负的机会。

来自柯林斯例句