Pushy means aggressively determined to get your own way. Asking again after being told no.
It is a criticism, and it describes manner rather than ambition, since somebody can be determined without being pushy. The classic pairing is a pushy parent, meaning one who forces a child through auditions and trials. It is applied to women more readily than to men for the same behaviour, which is worth noticing when you use it. The verb push and the noun pushiness belong to it, and assertive is the version people prefer about themselves.
1adjectivepushyToo forceful in trying to get what you want.
“The salesman was rather pushy about the extended warranty.”
Proto-Indo-European
*pel- (beat)
Latin
pulsō
Old French
poulser
Middle French
pousser
Middle English
pushen
English
push
English, today
pushy
From push + -y. push comes from Middle English pushen, from Middle French pousser, from Old French poulser, from Latin pulsō. From Middle English pushen, poshen, posson, borrowed from Middle French pousser (Modern French pousser) from Old French poulser, from Latin pulsare (“to beat, strike”), frequentative of pellere (past participle pulsus). a doublet of pulsate and pulse#Verb. Partly displaced native sċūfan, whence Modern English shove.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA