adventure
Americannoun
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adventures
plural
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an exciting or very unusual experience.
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participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises.
the spirit of adventure.
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a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
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a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.
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Obsolete.
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peril; danger; risk.
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chance; fortune; luck.
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verb (used with object)
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to risk or hazard.
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to take the chance of; dare.
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to venture to say or utter.
to adventure an opinion.
verb (used without object)
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to take the risk involved.
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to venture; hazard.
noun
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a risky undertaking of unknown outcome
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an exciting or unexpected event or course of events
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a hazardous financial operation; commercial speculation
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obsolete
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danger or misadventure
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chance
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verb
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to take a risk or put at risk
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to dare to go or enter (into a place, dangerous activity, etc)
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to dare to say (something)
he adventured his opinion
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of adventure
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English aventure, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Vulgar Latin adventūra (unrecorded) “what must happen,” feminine (originally neuter plural) of Latin adventūrus future participle of advenīre “to arrive”; ad- ad- replacing a- a- 5; see advent, -ure
Explanation
An adventure is an exciting and probably risky trip, effort, or undertaking. Let's go explore the jungle! Don't be scared — it'll be an adventure! To a kid from the city, a ride on the subway is just another trip across town. To a kid from the suburbs, though, it can be a real adventure — a trip to a strange place with all sorts of strange people, new sights, and surprising twists and turns. If you've ever been to the Great Adventure amusement park, you know that the whole place is designed to make you feel as though you're on a wild, exciting, and thrilling trip — a great adventure. People often go on an adventure hoping something wonderful will come of it.
Vocabulary lists containing adventure
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Introduction to Fiction
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"She's been on an adventure," Hannah said, and that she guessed "we'll never know" what happened to Charlie.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“They still have that bit of allure of discovery and sense of adventure, which is hard to find in this digital age when everything is available online,” she said of drugstores abroad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Nobody wants to order mozzarella sticks anymore, they want the adventure of finding the best secret combo of mozzarella sticks dipped into various sauces in the cornucopia of a Chili’s Triple Dipper.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
He returned to PSV in 2023 and added two more consecutive Dutch league titles before embarking on his MLS adventure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Yet he never let fear of his own mortality keep him from adventure.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Then, there is former Gov. Mark Sanford, who gained fame as a budget hawk and infamy for his extramarital adventures on the “Appalachian Trail.”
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Whisenant had frequently posted about his adventures across the Sierra Nevada, not only rock climbing but also skiing, biking and camping across the mountains, according to his Instagram page.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The game is the organizing factor in the narrator’s globe-trotting adventures, whose objectives, never obvious to begin with, always seem to be changing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Adeyemi’s novels, inspired by West African mythology, follow the adventures of Zélie, played by Thuso Mbedu, on her quest to restore magic to the kingdom of Orïsha.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Especially in the summer, when you’re supposed to be having adventures with friends.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Bruce: We were as basic as we could be, talking about something we’ve never fully adventured into, and rightly so.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
On the one hand, he tells us, the annals are haunted by “those who almost adventured, who almost achieved, but ultimately, for them, it proved to be too much.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2022
I’m not sure Dave will be around in a year or two when I’m all adventured out.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2020
As I look back at my vanlife adventure, it blows my mind that I’ve adventured more during the first year of my 30s than almost all 29 years before.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2019
But halfway down the steps, she realized just how long it had been since she’d adventured by herself.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
A self-described B-student, he spent his childhood adventuring in the wilderness near his hometown of Seattle, and as a kid had preferred skiing to YouTube.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
One of those characters is Silas, Sherlock’s adventuring father who doesn’t appear until the end of Episode 4.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Mr Deen added that Jeremiah liked football, exploring and adventuring, and that the family would not dwell on the sadness, but would "focus on how happy he made us in his life".
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2024
The original Dragon’s Dogma, from 2012, married robust combat with slow, methodical adventuring and baroque, anime-esque pomp.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
“And then tomorrow we’ll go over my adventuring lessons again.”
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
