Motivation vs. Ambition: What's the Difference?
Motivation and Ambition Definitions
Motivation
The act or process of motivating
The coach's effective motivation of her players.
Ambition
An eager or strong desire to achieve something, such as fame or power.
Motivation
The state of being motivated; having a desire or willingness to act
Students with a high level of motivation.
Ambition
The object or goal desired
Her ambition is the presidency.
Motivation
Something that motivates; an inducement, reason, or goal
“If your primary motivation in life is to be moral, you don't become an artist” (Mary Gordon).
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Ambition
Desire for exertion or activity; energy
Had no ambition to go dancing.
Motivation
Willingness of action especially in behavior.
Ambition
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 son, John, wants to be a firefighter very much. He has a lot of ambition.
Motivation
The action of motivating.
Ambition
(countable) An object of an ardent desire.
My ambition is to own a helicopter.
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Motivation
Something which motivates.
Ambition
A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
Motivation
An incentive or reason for doing something.
Ambition
(uncountable) A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
Motivation
(advertising) A research rating that measures how the rational and emotional elements of a commercial affect consumer intention to consider, visit, or buy something.
The motivation scores showed that 65% of people wanted to visit our website to learn more about the offer after watching the commercial.
Ambition
(obsolete) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
Motivation
The act or process of motivating.
Ambition
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Motivation
The mental process that arouses an organism to action; as, a large part of a teacher's job is to give students the motivation to learn on their own.
Ambition
The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
[I] used no ambition to commend my deeds.
Motivation
The goal or mental image of a goal that creates a motivation{2}; as, the image of a peaceful world is a powerful motivation for only a rare few individuals.
Ambition
An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition:By that sin fell the angels.
The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres.
Motivation
The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior;
We did not understand his motivation
He acted with the best of motives
Ambition
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.
Motivation
The condition of being motivated;
His motivation was at a high level
Ambition
A cherished desire;
His ambition is to own his own business
Motivation
The act of motivating; providing incentive
Ambition
A strong drive for success
Ambition
Have as one's ambition