Ambition vs. Duty — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Ambition and Duty
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Compare with Definitions
Ambition
An eager or strong desire to achieve something, such as fame or power.
Duty
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; Old French: deu, did, past participle of devoir; Latin: debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, especially in an honor culture.
Ambition
The object or goal desired
Her ambition is the presidency.
Duty
An act or a course of action that is required of one by position, social custom, law, or religion
The duties of being a critical care nurse.
Ambition
Desire for exertion or activity; energy
Had no ambition to go dancing.
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Duty
Required action or service
Jury duty.
Beyond the call of duty.
Ambition
Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
My son, John, wants to be a firefighter very much. He has a lot of ambition.
Duty
Active military service
A tour of duty.
Ambition
(countable) An object of an ardent desire.
My ambition is to own a helicopter.
Duty
Moral or legal obligation
It is your duty to tell the truth.
Ambition
A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
Duty
The compulsion felt to meet such obligation
Acting out of duty.
Ambition
(uncountable) A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
Duty
A tax charged by a government, especially on imports.
Ambition
(obsolete) The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
Duty
The application of something for a purpose; use
The dining room table also does duty as a desk.
Ambition
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Duty
A measure of efficiency expressed as the amount of work done per unit of energy used.
Ambition
The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
[I] used no ambition to commend my deeds.
Duty
The total volume of water required to irrigate a given area in order to cultivate a specific crop until harvest.
Ambition
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.
The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres.
Duty
That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.
We don't have a duty to keep you here.
Ambition
To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet.
Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage.
Duty
The state of being at work and responsible for or doing a particular task.
I’m on duty from 6 pm to 6 am.
Ambition
A cherished desire;
His ambition is to own his own business
Duty
A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff.
Customs duty; excise duty
Ambition
A strong drive for success
Duty
(obsolete) One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee.
Ambition
Have as one's ambition
Duty
(obsolete) Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
Duty
The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).
Duty
That which is due; payment.
When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware, thou receivest thy duty.
Duty
That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory.
Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country.
Duty
Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty.
With records sweet of duties done.
To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty.
Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them.
Duty
Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and superiors.
Duty
Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
Duty
The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).
Duty
Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods.
Duty
Work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons;
The duties of the job
Duty
The social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force;
We must instill a sense of duty in our children
Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty
Duty
A government tax on imports or exports;
They signed a treaty to lower duties on trade between their countries
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