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Ambitious vs Competitive - What's the difference?

ambitious | competitive |

As adjectives the difference between ambitious and competitive

is that ambitious is possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction while competitive is capable of competing successfully.

ambitious

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.
  • * 1891 , , "The Man with the Twisted Lip,"
  • As I grew richer I grew more ambitious , took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation.
  • Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.
  • Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.
  • Hard to achieve.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme

    Usage notes

    * Said of people, projects, plans, goals, etc.

    Derived terms

    * ambitiously * ambitiousness * overambitious

    References

    * * * * * " ambitious" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002) * " ambitious" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * " ambitious" in Compact Oxford English Dictionary , (Oxford University Press, 2007)

    competitive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (economics) capable of competing successfully
  • of or pertaining to competition
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=September 7 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Moldova 0-5 England , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.}}
  • (of someone's character) inclined to compete
  • (biochemistry) inhibiting the action of an enzyme by binding with it
  • (euphemistically, of prices) cheap, especially used of quality products
  • Antonyms

    * (of or pertaining to competition) cooperative

    Derived terms

    * competitively * competitiveness * competitive person * competitive advantage * competitive edge