as in ambitious
having a strong desire for personal advancement
she's the most hard-driving malpractice lawyer I've ever seen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hard-driving
In its hard-driving push to toughen immigration policy, the Trump administration has found an unusual ally: old and at times rarely enforced laws that can be used to further its goals.
—
Henry Gass, Christian Science Monitor, 11 Apr. 2025
Brothers Osborne returns with a hard-driving, barroom-ready new track, while another brother duo, Band Reeves, melds country and pop with a faith-leaning message.
—Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 7 Apr. 2025
The pleasantness of his company sits unsteadily beside his reputation for being, at times, hard-driving, harsh, and unempathetic.
—Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025
That same year, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had spent just over a decade as Turkey’s hard-driving prime minister, became its president.
—Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hard-driving
Henry Gass, Christian Science Monitor, 11 Apr. 2025
Brothers Osborne returns with a hard-driving, barroom-ready new track, while another brother duo, Band Reeves, melds country and pop with a faith-leaning message.
—Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 7 Apr. 2025
The pleasantness of his company sits unsteadily beside his reputation for being, at times, hard-driving, harsh, and unempathetic.
—Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025
That same year, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had spent just over a decade as Turkey’s hard-driving prime minister, became its president.
—Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hard-driving
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-driving
Adjective
-
Oh Ae-sun (played by K-pop superstar IU, who also portrays Ae-sun’s daughter Geum-myeong) is a poor but ambitious girl who grows up on South Korea’s Jeju Island in the 1950s and 1960s.—
Regina Kim,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
-
This year’s edition, moreover, is more ambitious than ever.—
Essie Assibu,
Variety,
24 June 2025
Adjective
-
Back then, Stamets was a student and aspiring mycologist, and Chilton was a commercial mushroom grower.—
Mattha Busby,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2025
-
For all the California-bashing, the state remains one of the world’s largest economies, still the place where aspiring actors and filmmakers go to pursue their dreams, whose rich agricultural fields are crucial to feeding America.—
David Lightman,
Sacbee.com,
15 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hard-driving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-driving. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share