ambition vs hope

ambition

noun
  • An object of an ardent desire. 

  • 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. 

  • A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal. 

  • A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things. 

verb
  • To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet. 

hope

noun
  • A person or thing that is a source of hope. 

  • A sloping plain between mountain ridges. 

  • A small bay; an inlet; a haven. 

  • A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a combe. 

  • The virtuous desire for future good. 

  • The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen. 

  • The actual thing wished for. 

verb
  • To wish. 

  • To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might. 

  • To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in. 

  • To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes. 

How often have the words ambition and hope occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )