ambitious

Etymology

From Middle English ambitious, from Middle French ambitieus, from Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux.

adj

1. (of a person or their character) Having or showing ambition; wanting a lot of power, honor, respect, superiority, or other distinction.
   an ambitious person
   someone's ambitious nature
   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. 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Man with the Twisted Lip
2. (followed by "of" or the infinitive) Very desirous
   30 June 2019, Sam Wallace in The Telegraph, Manchester United must shape Aaron Wan-Bissaka into a £50m all-rounder - but there is no hiding place at Old Trafford Now he is joining a club ambitious to return to a model of dominating games and attacking opposition.
   We were soon in the midst of the rapids, which were more swift and tumultuous than any we had poled up, and had turned to the side of the stream for the purpose of warping, when the boatmen, who felt some pride in their skill, and were ambitious to do something more than usual 1864, Henry David Thoreau, The Maine Woods
3. Resulting from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition
   an ambitious project
   an ambitious style
   an ambitious attempt to take power
   an ambitious plan
   an ambitious goal
4. Hard to achieve.
   A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside? 2013-06-01, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)