English → Latin
“ambition” in Latin
ambitiōA going around or about; that which surrounds.; A desire for one's favor or good will; excessive desire to please, flattfāmafame; rumour, talk, opinion, report; reputationaviditāsAn eagerness for something, avidity, longing, desire; covetousness, greed, avarice; gluttony, hungerglōriaglory, renown, fame, honor
The English word ambition itself goes back to Latin eō, through ambitiō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
ambition
ambitio: studium laudis: stndium cupiditasque honorum: cupido honoris or famae: aviditas or avaritia gioriae: aestus quidam gloriae: sitis famae. Sometimes from the context, gloria only may do, alicujus gloriae favere (Cic.). To be impelled by ambition, gloria duci: to be possased, enthralled, etc., by ambition, ambitione teneri: to burn with ambition, ambitione accensum esse or flagrare. He allowed himself to be hurried away by his ambition, eurn absorbuit aestus quidam gloriae: or quasi quidam aestus gloriae abripuit; atque in altum abstraxit.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for ambition?
- The usual Latin words for “ambition” are ambitiō, fāma, aviditās; also glōria. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.