Meaning & use
ambitious goal
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountable
A target or aim that is difficult to achieve and requires great effort or determination.
Grammar: Countable noun phrase: an ambitious goal, ambitious goals. Often followed by 'of' or 'to': the ambitious goal of reducing poverty; an ambitious goal to double sales.
Patterns
- an ambitious goal
- set an ambitious goal
- an ambitious goal of doing something
- an ambitious goal to do something
The company set an ambitious goal of cutting waste by half within two years.
Her ambitious goal is to run a marathon in every major city.
Reaching that ambitious goal will take years of hard work.
phrasecountableapproving
An aim that shows a strong desire for success or progress, sometimes more than is realistic.
Grammar: Often used when the aim seems too high or impressive: They have ambitious goals for the next decade.
Patterns
- have ambitious goals
- pursue an ambitious goal
- an ambitious goal for something
The new mayor has ambitious goals for improving public transport.
Critics said the plan was an ambitious goal that the budget could not support.
Word forms
| plural | ambitious goals |
|---|
Common combinations
- set an ambitious goal
- The team set an ambitious goal for the quarter.
- achieve an ambitious goal
- She achieved her ambitious goal of opening three stores.
- an ambitious goal of
- They announced an ambitious goal of zero emissions by 2040.
- an ambitious goal to
- He has an ambitious goal to write a novel in a year.
- pursue an ambitious goal
- The startup continues to pursue its ambitious goal despite setbacks.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stretch goal
- A business term for a target that is deliberately hard to reach, often used in planning; ambitious goal is more general.
- aspiration
- A strong hope or desire rather than a concrete target; ambitious goal is usually more specific and measurable.
- lofty aim
- Sounds more literary or formal and often suggests the aim is noble but perhaps unrealistic.
Opposites
Word family
- ambition noun
- The strong desire to achieve something; the feeling behind an ambitious goal.
- ambitiously adverb
- In a way that shows a strong desire for success: They ambitiously planned to expand overseas.
Commonly confused: ambitious goal or ambivalent?
ambitious goal vs ambivalent
Ambivalent means having mixed feelings about something; it has nothing to do with ambitious goals.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses ambitious goal correctly.
Choose one answer.
The phrase 'set an ambitious goal to do something' is a common and grammatical pattern. Option A has the wrong verb form after 'of' (should be 'learning'), option C uses the phrase as an adjective incorrectly, and option D is contradictory because an ambitious goal is difficult, not easy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ambitious goal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.