The difference between Ambition and Drive

When used as nouns, ambition means eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or literary fame, whereas drive means motivation to do or achieve something.

When used as verbs, ambition means to seek after ambitiously or eagerly, whereas drive means to impel or urge onward by force.

check bellow for the other definitions of Ambition and Drive

  1. Ambition as a noun (uncountable, countable):

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

    Examples:

    "My son, John, wants to be a firefighter very much. He has a lot of ambition."

  2. Ambition as a noun (countable):

    An object of an ardent desire.

    Examples:

    "My ambition is to own a helicopter."

  3. Ambition as a noun:

    A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.

  4. Ambition as a noun (uncountable):

    A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.

  5. Ambition as a noun (obsolete):

    The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.

  1. Ambition as a verb:

    To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.

    Examples:

    "Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.'' — Trumbull."

  1. Drive as a noun:

    Motivation to do or achieve something; ability coupled with ambition.

    Examples:

    "Crassus had [[wealth]] and [[wit]], but Pompey had drive and Caesar as much again."

  2. Drive as a noun:

    Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; especially, a forced or hurried dispatch of business.

  3. Drive as a noun:

    An act of driving animals forward, such as to be captured, hunted etc.

  4. Drive as a noun (military):

    A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take a strategic objective.

    Examples:

    "Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as [[determined]] as it was [[disastrous]]."

  5. Drive as a noun:

    A motor that does not take fuel, but instead depends on a mechanism that stores potential energy for subsequent use.

    Examples:

    "Some old model trains have clockwork drives."

  6. Drive as a noun:

    A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).

    Examples:

    "It was a long drive."

  7. Drive as a noun:

    A driveway.

    Examples:

    "The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive."

  8. Drive as a noun:

    A type of public roadway.

    Examples:

    "Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive."

  9. Drive as a noun (dated):

    A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

  10. Drive as a noun (psychology):

    Desire or interest.

  11. Drive as a noun (computing):

    An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk, as a floppy drive.

  12. Drive as a noun (computing):

    A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data, as a hard drive, a flash drive.

  13. Drive as a noun (golf):

    A stroke made with a driver.

  14. Drive as a noun (baseball, tennis):

    A ball struck in a flat trajectory.

  15. Drive as a noun (cricket):

    A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc, through the line of the ball, and hitting it along the ground, normally between cover and midwicket.

  16. Drive as a noun (soccer):

    A straight level shot or pass.

  17. Drive as a noun (American football):

    An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.

  18. Drive as a noun:

    A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.

    Examples:

    "a whist drive; a beetle drive"

  19. Drive as a noun (typography):

    An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.

  20. Drive as a noun:

    A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

  1. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

    Examples:

    "to drive sheep out of a field"

  2. Drive as a verb (transitive, intransitive):

    To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

  3. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause animals to flee out of.

    Examples:

    "rfex the example is not exactly about an action described by the definition. the example is about driving brambles, not about driving animals. The beaters drove the brambles, causing a great rush of rabbits and other creatures."

  4. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To move (something) by hitting it with great force.

    Examples:

    "You drive nails into wood with a hammer."

  5. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause (a mechanism) to operate.

    Examples:

    "The pistons drive the crankshaft."

  6. Drive as a verb (transitive, ergative):

    To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

    Examples:

    "'drive a car"

  7. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

    Examples:

    "What drives a person to run a marathon?"

  8. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To compel (to do something).

    Examples:

    "Their debts finally drove them to sell the business."

  9. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause to become.

    Examples:

    "This constant complaining is going to drive me to insanity. You are driving me crazy!"

  10. Drive as a verb (intransitive, cricket, tennis, baseball):

    To hit the ball with a drive.

  11. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    Examples:

    "I drive to work every day."

  12. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    Examples:

    "My wife drove me to the airport."

  13. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To move forcefully.

  14. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).

  15. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

  16. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Francis Bacon"

  17. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

  18. Drive as a verb (mining):

    To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Tomlinson"

  19. Drive as a verb (American football):

    To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.

  20. Drive as a verb (obsolete):

    To distrain for rent.

  21. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.

  22. Drive as a verb:

    To be the dominant party in a sex act.

Compare words:

Compare with synonyms and related words: