overambitious
adjective
over·am·bi·tious
ˌō-vər-am-ˈbi-shəs 
: excessively ambitious
The reforms of the Great Society succeeded in markedly reducing poverty, although they fell short of President Lyndon B. Johnson's overambitious goals.—
Dennis H. Wrong
Dennis H. WrongDr. Godfrey, who has seen more than his share of the fallout from overambitious exercise programs, advises against jumping and pounding exercises for people over 50 …—Jane E. Brody
Jane E. Brody… NASA's original plans for the shuttle were overambitious: the commitment to provide routine and economical access to space locked the agency into a schedule too tight to be met with the available resources.—Scientific American
Scientific American
overambitiously
adverb
planned overambitiously for the future
I overambitiously tried the traditional full Irish breakfast …
—Laura Reiley
Laura Reiley
overambitiousness
noun
My hopes for another gardening season have once again been dashed by my overambitiousness and basically lazy nature.
—Michelle Kennedy
Michelle Kennedy
Examples of overambitious in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Misfires in the transfer market, a widespread injury crisis and an overambitious tactical game plan saw everything unravel.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 17 May 2026
Global carmakers have lost over $70 billion in write-offs after drastically scaling back overambitious EV production targets and consumer demand.
—Neil Winton, Forbes.com, 14 May 2026
Meanwhile, the automaker's current lineup and product strategy feels both tired and overambitious.
—Aarian Marshall, Wired News, 22 Dec. 2025
And, in an overambitious initial public offering early this year, the company sought a market valuation approaching $110 billion—double that of Cheniere—while riding the pro-fossil fuel, Trump inauguration wave—only for its market cap to plunge to a low of $17 billion in early April.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2025
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Carl Anka, New York Times, 17 May 2026
Global carmakers have lost over $70 billion in write-offs after drastically scaling back overambitious EV production targets and consumer demand.
—Neil Winton, Forbes.com, 14 May 2026
Meanwhile, the automaker's current lineup and product strategy feels both tired and overambitious.
—Aarian Marshall, Wired News, 22 Dec. 2025
And, in an overambitious initial public offering early this year, the company sought a market valuation approaching $110 billion—double that of Cheniere—while riding the pro-fossil fuel, Trump inauguration wave—only for its market cap to plunge to a low of $17 billion in early April.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Overambitious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overambitious. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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