adventurer
Americannoun
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a person who has, enjoys, or seeks adventures.
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a seeker of fortune in daring enterprises; soldier of fortune.
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a person who undertakes great commercial risk; speculator.
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a person who seeks power, wealth, or social rank by unscrupulous or questionable means.
They thought John was an adventurer and after their daughter's money.
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Usually Adventurer a member of Camp Fire, Inc., who is between the ages of 9 and 11.
noun
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a person who seeks adventure, esp one who seeks success or money through daring exploits
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a person who seeks money or power by unscrupulous means
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a speculator
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of adventurer
Explanation
If you boldly travel to exotic and unexplored locations, you're an adventurer. One thing all adventurers have in common is a willingness to face risks and even danger in pursuit of excitement. Being an adventurer might mean scaling the highest mountains, diving to the bottom of the ocean — or for a very young child, riding a bike all the way to the end of the block. Many adventurers love to travel, particularly to rugged or unfamiliar locations. If you love adventure, you can call yourself an adventurer. Both words stem from the Latin adventura, "about to happen."
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 result is an often exhilarating, often disturbing and always poignant tale of an artist and adventurer who lived to challenge the limits of what humans could do.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
And he was very much an adventurer, right?
From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2026
Popular images, such as the fearless adventurer, powerful fighter and skilled seafarer, have become familiar.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 23, 2025
He draws on the photographer’s diaries and autobiography to portray his subject as a gentle-souled adventurer, driven into a peripatetic life by wanderlust and financial necessity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
“And how are you an adventurer, laddybuck? You hardly look old enough to cross a busy street, never mind Parts Unknown.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
Figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon were adventurers, and while perhaps not personally admirable, they changed history and changed it irrevocably:
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026
The king solemnly advises the adventurers on how, according to lore, elephants became revered participants in the history of his people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
The mountain’s close proximity to Los Angeles, coupled with social media content promoting the hike, encourages inexperienced adventurers, Fordham said, with “zero regard to the actual danger they’re putting themselves in.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025
Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were two of the public’s favorite space adventurers.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
