adventure

American  

[ad-ven-cher] / ædˈvɛn tʃər /

noun

1. an exciting or very unusual experience.

2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises.

   the spirit of adventure.

3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

4. a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.

5. Obsolete.

   1. peril; danger; risk.

   2. chance; fortune; luck.

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verb (used with object)

adventured, adventuring

1. to risk or hazard.

2. to take the chance of; dare.

3. to venture to say or utter.

   to adventure an opinion.

verb (used without object)

adventured, adventuring

1. to take the risk involved.

2. to venture; hazard.

adventure British  

/ ədˈvɛntʃə /

noun

1. a risky undertaking of unknown outcome

2. an exciting or unexpected event or course of events

3. a hazardous financial operation; commercial speculation

4. obsolete

   1. danger or misadventure

   2. chance

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verb

1. to take a risk or put at risk

2. to dare to go or enter (into a place, dangerous activity, etc)

3. to dare to say (something)

   he adventured his opinion

Other Word Forms

• adventureful adjective
• unadventuring adjective

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; advent, -ure

Example Sentences

One Friday night last year, Akylah Cox and her boyfriend took a red-eye flight from Pennsylvania to Dublin for a whirlwind adventure.

From Los Angeles Times

Not only are they accomplished pilots, engineers and scientists, they are also spouses and parents balancing a heroic adventure against the risks they and their loved ones will face.

From BBC

I could stream most of those flicks, but I missed the adventures they’d had.

From Literature

Apart from the Walden adventure, Thoreau appeared as a public speaker and worked as a surveyor and in his father’s very successful pencil factory, for which he created some important innovations.

From Los Angeles Times

Space adventure flick "Project Hail Mary" topped the North American box office for a second straight week with $54.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.

From Barron's

Related Words

• experience
• exploit
• feat
• scene
• trip