adventure
Americannoun
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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
Words Every Pirate Should Know
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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:
“Every one of these 14 stories is its own small adventure in how America makes decisions democratically. It is never easy.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Nadira Goffe argues that watching the film in 4DX—which features, among other things, scents, moving chairs, and sprays of water—is the superior way to experience the epic adventure.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
The flesh-and-blood narrative offers a new take on 2011's "Green Lantern," a Ryan Reynolds-led space adventure movie.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Hikers were tromping right through the middle of the village, led by a user-generated route on a popular outdoors adventure app, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
"This is no ordinary adventure," Don Quixote answered.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
At the start of the year Josh and Kelly were planning campervan adventures and trying for a baby but, with their life plans now on hold, the couple are determined to make memories every day.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Now Pogacar has turned the sport’s highest profile stage race into one of those five-figure wine-and-scenery cycling adventures that are abundant in the French summer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The briskly paced film is equally entertaining while recounting her wild adventures of yore and while following her around Manhattan and Fire Island today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Still said: "I never imagined I'd be doing anything like this at 91, but I enjoyed it so much that I'm now planning more fun adventures."
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
He had also entertained them with stories of his hunting adventures in the Dakota Territory and read adventure and nature books to them.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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
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
In “Delicious in Dungeon,” a ragtag adventuring crew makes hot pot out of man-eating mushrooms.
From Salon ● May 12, 2025
Tania Davidson is a psychologist who spends her free time backpacking, sailing and otherwise adventuring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024
Jones, an adventuring archaeologist, is seen with the hat early on in the movie where he and his companions jump from a crashing plane in an inflatable raft.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2024
He lets Scoob navigate the whole trip from his map, and they make the same stops so Dad can see all Scoob and G’ma got up to on their adventuring.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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.
