enterprising
Americanadjective
-
ready to undertake projects of importance or difficulty, or untried schemes; energetic in carrying out any undertaking.
Business is in need of enterprising young people.
- Synonyms:
- adventurous, resourceful, venturesome, venturous
-
characterized by great imagination or initiative.
an enterprising foreign policy.
adjective
Related Words
See ambitious.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enterprising
First recorded in 1565–75; enterprise + -ing 2
Explanation
If you are enterprising, you are creative and show initiative. Were you the kid who bought candy before school and sold it during school at a profit? If so, you were an enterprising little one. Though it has the word, enterprise, in it and is often used to describe people who set up businesses to fill a need, enterprising can be used for any kind of display of creative initiative. Kids who decide on their own to build a skate park are enterprising, as is a dance company that is able to perform a piece on a shoestring budget.
Vocabulary lists containing enterprising
"Earth (A Gift Shop)," Vocabulary from the short story
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
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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.
It is symbolic of your enterprising younger self, and all of those fancy cars and five-star vacations that you passed up on, perhaps using that money as a down payment on your next property instead.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026
Not since “Cats” has there been a more misguided yet enterprising work of big-budget, intellectual property cinema.
From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026
For enterprising men, money from war, industry or trade was a passport through social frontiers—the tradesman, merchant or lucky naval captain could become a landed gentleman, as happens in Austen’s novels.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
By then, an enterprising police chief, Víctor Hugo Enríquez, had taken the reins of the state police at the behest of the governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025
The enterprising ones would skim off their share, and if they were smart and wished to enjoy their lives, they’d learn how to ski and play golf.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
