ambition English
Noun
( en-noun)
(uncountable, countable) Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or literary fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
- My son, John, wants to be a firefighter very much. He has a lot of ambition .
* Burke
- the pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres
(countable) An object of an ardent desire.
- My ambition is to own a helicopter.
A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
(uncountable) A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
(obsolete) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
* Milton
- [I] used no ambition to commend my deeds.
Related terms
* ambience
* ambient
* ambit
* ambitious
* ambitionist
Verb
( en verb)
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
- Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage. — Trumbull.
External links
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vice English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl), from (etyl) .
Noun
( en noun)
A bad habit.
- Smoking is a vice , not a virtue.
(legal) Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, or drugs.
A defect in the temper or behaviour of a horse, such as to make the animal dangerous, to injure its health, or to diminish its usefulness.
* From the case of Scholefield v. Robb (1839).
Antonyms
* (bad habit) virtue
Derived terms
* vice squad
Related terms
* vicious
* vitiate
See also
* habit
Etymology 2
From (etyl) ; akin to English withy.
Alternative forms
* vise (US)
Noun
( en noun)
A mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping or holding (also spelled vise).
A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.
(obsolete) A grip or grasp.
* 1597 , , II. I. 22:
- Fang. An I but fist him once; an a’ come but within my vice ,–
Verb
( vic)
To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.
* 1610 , , I. ii. 416:
- Camillo. As he had seen’t, or been an instrument / To vice you to't, that you have touched his queen / Forbiddenly
* De Quincey
- The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and lower thigh.
Etymology 3
From (etyl) , ablative form of vicis.
Adjective
vice (no comparative or superlative)
in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank
- vice president
- vice admiral
Derived terms
* vice admiral
* vice governor
* vice mayor
* vice president
Preposition
( head)
instead of, in place of
- A. B. was appointed postmaster vice C. D. resigned.
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