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:
The mother-of-two posted pictures of skiing trips, safaris and romantic European getaways on her Facebook page and boasted she was "living and loving life one adventure at a time".
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
While publishers “exhibited a strong preference for. . . what might be called ‘highbrow works,’ ” Ms. Manning observes, the favorites among enlisted men ran more to “westerns, mysteries, stories of adventure and page-turning fiction.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
"We wanted to go somewhere that would take our whole family on an adventure with us," Hayden said.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Opera will once again revive director Mario Bava’s 1961 movie, “Hercules in the Haunted World,” a sword-and-sandal adventure that The Times has described as having “low-budget production values, atrocious acting and even worse dubbing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
I knew she could appreciate the thrill of adventure.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Apart from the turtle story, which made it into the episode “Field Trip,” very few of Arnold’s adventures were directly borrowed from Bartlett’s life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Among his students was Joshua Boger, a skeptical 19-year-old captivated by Tishler’s scientific adventures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
If you’re consistent with your goals, the more Dora the Explorer–style adventures your bird can go on.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
The story, which is told entirely in rhyme, follows Crumble the cat on his daring garden adventures.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Eomma gave them all dried squid to eat, and they told their parents of their adventures until they were finally too tired and fell asleep in a large happy heap of bodies.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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
“That’s precisely why I had Emet-Selch take on the role of chiding like, ‘What’s with that lonely look, as though you know and have adventured through everything there is to see in the world?
From The Verge ● Apr. 29, 2022
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
George Marston, the official artist of the expedition, had adventured in the Antarctic with Shackleton, too.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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
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
During the day, when you aren’t out adventuring, you can find a shady spot beneath a towering ponderosa pine or cedar tree.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 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
“It’s been nice adventuring with you guys,” Grover said, his voice trembling.
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
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.
