Adventure Definition & Meaning

American

British

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms 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.

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That also goes for instances late in Mabel’s adventure in which “Hoppers” steps into amusingly creepy terrain, paying homage to the horror genre.

From Los Angeles Times

No matter, says Storer, as here the objective was to place guests in a welcoming adventure with plenty to look at.

From Los Angeles Times

THE adventure really begins in differences—the great differences between people and animals, between the way we live now and the way we once lived, between the Mall and the Woods.

From Literature

The company put this down to a quieter slate of releases in the past 12 months, and it does have several big titles, including fantasy adventure Fable, coming in 2026.

From BBC

We do often hanker to leave town on multimonth adventures that break us out of our routines.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• experience
• exploit
• feat
• scene
• trip

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.