underambition

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noun

The quality of being underambitious.

Scrabble 18
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Meanings

noununderambition (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe quality of being underambitious.

    Both overambition and underambition at this stage will lead to frustration and the inevitable lack of effective progress.

    2002, Eric Ruding, Middle Management in Action: Practical Approaches to School Improvement, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    So it is important to take seriously the scope to configure what your research will be about, avoiding both overreaching topics and underambition.

    2003, Patrick Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD, →ISBN

    Being overambitious bears the risk of ending up empty-handed, whereas underambition will lead to a vocational track that has too little promotion potential.

    2007, Rainer K Silbereisen, Richard M Lerner, Approaches to Positive Youth Development, →ISBN

Origin

From under- + ambition.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

underambition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underambition

MLA

“underambition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underambition. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underambition,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underambition.

Source: underambition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.