[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being ambitious; eagerness to attain a high position; pretentiousness.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., in Ashm. 1652, i. 13. It [Alchemy] voydeth [i.e., nullifies] Ambitiousnesse.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Paraphr. Mark, Pref. 6. To litle to satisfie his ambiciousnes.
1610. Healey, St. Aug., City of God, 218. Yet let the love of righteousnesse suppresse the thirst of ambitiousnesse.
1845. Shaw, in Blackw. Mag., LVIII. 34. Those who measure the value of a poem … by the pretension and ambitiousness of its form.
