entrepreneur
Americannoun
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a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
-
an employer of productive labor; contractor.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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the owner or manager of a business enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits
-
a middleman or commercial intermediary
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of entrepreneur
First recorded in 1875–80; from French: literally, “one who undertakes (some task),” equivalent to entrepren(dre) “to undertake” (from Latin inter- inter- + prendere “to take,” variant of prehendere ) + -eur -eur; see enterprise
Explanation
An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Little stores and huge companies both have entrepreneurs behind them. Do you have good ideas for products? Are you OK with the idea of risk? Then maybe you should be an entrepreneur. This is someone who founds a business, whether a tiny one or a huge one. Besides starting the business, the entrepreneur takes on the most of the risk by investing their own money and/or bringing in other investors. For an entrepreneur, their business is their baby.
Vocabulary lists containing entrepreneur
A Raisin in the Sun
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Fast Food Nation
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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.
Legendary tennis player and entrepreneur Serena Williams also joined the tour as a producer.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
We track his evolution from Liverpudlian schoolboy to American media entrepreneur, his heart broken repeatedly by an English team whose hype is never matched by its performance.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Musk, the South African-born serial entrepreneur, founded SpaceX when he was 30 years old.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
In 2013, he arranged for her to get a job as a flying instructor for the company of entrepreneur Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
A few days after I met Ramirez Leyva, the tortilla entrepreneur, we went to Soledad Aguablanca, a clump of small farms two hours southeast of Oaxaca City.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
