ambition

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.

   “My daughter, Johanna, wants to be a firefighter very much. She has a lot of ambition.”

   “The third part of practice hath divers branches, but one principal root in these our times, which is the vast and overspreading ambition and usurpation of the see of Rome; […]”

   “One is aſtoniſhed hovv ſuch a ſmall ſpot could furniſh Men ſufficient to ſacrifice to the pitiful Ambition of poſſeſſing five or ſix thouſand more Acres, or tvvo or three more Villages: […]”

2. (countable)An object of an ardent desire.

   “My ambition is to own a helicopter.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
4. (uncountable)A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.

   “I on th' other ſide / Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, […]”

verb

1. To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.

   “Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.”