1. [n]  a strong drive for success
2. [n]  a cherished desire; "his ambition is to own his own business"
3. [v]  have as one's ambition

AMBITION is a 8 letter word that starts with A.

1. \Am*bi"tion\, n. [F. ambition, L. ambitio a going
   around, especially of candidates for office is Rome, to
   solicit votes (hence, desire for office or honor? fr. ambire
   to go around. See {Ambient}, {Issue}.]
   1. The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or
      any other object of desire; canvassing. [Obs.]
            [I] used no ambition to commend my deeds. --Milton.
   2. 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.             --Shak.
            The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six
            thousand more acres.                  --Burke.
   

2. \Am*bi"tion\, v. t. [Cf. F. ambitionner.]
   To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet. [R.]
         Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece,
         bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.
                                                  --Trumbull.