adventure

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: ad=ven=ture

CIDE DICTIONARY

adventure, n. [OE. aventure, aunter, anter, F. aventure, fr. LL. adventura, fr. L. advenire, adventum, to arrive, which in the Romance languages took the sense of “to happen, befall.” See Advene.].

•  That which happens without design; chance; hazard; hap; hence, chance of danger or loss.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nay, a far less good to man it will be found, if she must, at all adventures, be fastened upon him individually."  [1913 Webster]
•  Risk; danger; peril.  [1913 Webster]

  "He was in great adventure of his life."  [1913 Webster]
•  The encountering of risks; hazardous and striking enterprise; a bold undertaking, in which hazards are to be encountered, and the issue is staked upon unforeseen events; a daring feat.  [1913 Webster]

  "He loved excitement and adventure."  [1913 Webster]
•  A remarkable occurrence; a striking event; a stirring incident; as, the adventures of one's life.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
•  A mercantile or speculative enterprise of hazard; a venture; a shipment by a merchant on his own account.  [1913 Webster]

A bill of adventure (Com.), a writing setting forth that the goods shipped are at the owner's risk.

Syn. -- Undertaking; enterprise; venture; event.

adventure, v. t. [OE. aventuren, auntren, F. aventurer, fr. aventure. See Adventure, n.].

•  To risk, or hazard; jeopard; to venture.  [1913 Webster]

  "He would not adventure himself into the theater."  [1913 Webster]
•  To venture upon; to run the risk of; to dare.  [1913 Webster]

  "Yet they adventured to go back."  [1913 Webster]

  "Discriminations might be adventured."  [1913 Webster]

adventure, v. i. 

 To try the chance; to take the risk.  [1913 Webster]
"I would adventure for such merchandise."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

adventure, n. & v.
--n.
1 an unusual and exciting experience.
2 a daring enterprise; a hazardous activity.
3 enterprise (the spirit of adventure).
4 a commercial speculation.
--v.intr.
1 (often foll. by into, upon) dare to go or come.
2 (foll. by on, upon) dare to undertake.
3 incur risk; engage in adventure.

Idiom

adventure playground a playground where children are provided with functional materials for climbing on, building with, etc.

Derivative

adventuresome adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF aventure, aventurer f. L adventurus about to happen (as ADVENT)

THESAURUS

adventure

Clio, accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement, act, acta, action, adventures, affair, annals, aristeia, autobiography, bet, biographical sketch, biography, blow, bold stroke, case history, casualty, chance, chance hit, chronicle, chronicles, chronology, circumstance, confessions, contingency, contingent, coup, curriculum vitae, danger, dare, dealings, deed, diary, doing, doings, effort, emprise, endanger, endeavor, enterprise, episode, escapade, event, expedition, experience, experiences, exploit, exploration, fact, fait accompli, feat, fluke, fortuity, fortunes, freak accident, gamble, gest, go, hagiography, hagiology, hand, handiwork, hap, happening, happenstance, hazard, heroic act, historiography, history, imperil, incident, jeopardize, job, journal, legend, life, life and letters, life story, long odds, long shot, lucky shot, maneuver, martyrology, matter of fact, measure, memoir, memoirs, memorabilia, memorial, memorials, mission, move, necrology, obituary, occasion, occurrence, operation, overt act, particular, passage, performance, peril, phenomenon, photobiography, pilgrimage, proceeding, production, profile, punt, quest, reality, record, res gestae, resume, risk, speculation, stake, step, story, stroke, stunt, theory of history, thing, thing done, threaten, tour de force, transaction, turn, turn of events, undertaking, venture, wager, waver, work, works

ROGET THESAURUS

adventure

Pursuit

N pursuit, pursuing, prosecution, pursuance, enterprise, business, adventure, quest, scramble, hue and cry, game, hobby, still-hunt, chase, hunt, battue, race, steeple chase, hunting, coursing, venation, venery, fox chase, sport, sporting, shooting, angling, fishing, hawking, shikar (Geog loc:India), pursuer, hunter, huntsman, shikari (Geog loc:India), sportsman, Nimrod, hound, pursuing, in quest of, in pursuit, in full cry, in hot pursuit, on the scent, in pursuance of, after, Int, tallyho!, yoicks!, soho!.

Danger

VB be in danger, be exposed to danger, run into danger, incur danger, encounter danger, run a risk, lay oneself open to, lean on a broken reed, trust to a broken reed, feel the ground sliding from under one, have to run for it, have the chances against one, have the odds against one, face long odds, be in deep trouble, be between a rock and a hard place, hang by a thread, totter, sleep on a volcano, stand on a volcano, sit on a barrel of gunpowder, live in a glass house, bring in danger, place in danger, put in danger, place in jeopardy, put in jeopardy, endanger, expose to danger, imperil, jeopard, jeopardize, compromise, sail too near the wind, adventure, risk, hazard, venture, stake, set at hazard, run the gauntlet, engage in a forlorn hope, threaten danger, run one hard, lay a trap for.

Essay

N essay, trial, endeavor, attempt, aim, struggle, venture, adventure, speculation, coup d'essai, debut, probation, essaying, experimental, tentative, empirical, probationary, experimentally, on trial, at a venture, by rule of thumb, if one may be so bold, aut non tentaris aut perfice, chi non s'arrischia non guadagna.

VB try, essay, experiment, endeavor, strive, tempt, attempt, make an attempt, venture, adventure, speculate, take one's chance, tempt fortune, try one's fortune, try one's luck, try one's hand, use one's endeavor, feel one's way, grope one's way, pick one's way, try hard, push, make a bold push, use one's best endeavor, do one's best.

Undertaking

N undertaking, compact, adventure, venture, engagement, enterprise, emprise, pilgrimage, matter in hand, move, first move, undertaking, on the anvil, Int, here goes!.

Eventuality

N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.

Chance

N chance, lot, fate, luck, good luck, mascot, speculation, venture, stake, game of chance, mere shot, random shot, blind bargain, leap in the dark, pig in a poke, fluke, potluck, faro bank, flyer, limit, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, drawing lots, sortilegy, sortition, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice, wager, bet, betting, gambling, the turf, gaming house, gambling house, betting house, bucket shop, gambling joint, totalizator, totalizer, hell, betting ring, dice, dice box, gambler, gamester, man of the turf, adventurer, dicer, fortuitous, unintentional, unintended, accidental, not meant, undesigned, purposed, unpremeditated, unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of, random, indiscriminate, promiscuous, undirected, aimless, driftless, designless, purposeless, causeless, without purpose, possible, unforeseeable, unpredictable, chancy, risky, speculative, dicey, randomly, by chance, fortuitously, unpredictably, unforeseeably, casually, unintentionally, unwittingly, en passant, by the way, incidentally, as it may happen, at random, at a venture, at haphazard, acierta errando, dextro tempore, fearful concatenation of circumstances, fortuitous combination of circumstances, le jeu est le fils d'avarice et le pere du desespo, the happy combination of fortuitous circumstances, the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms, God does not play dice with the universe, chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit, fate, equal chance, lottery, tombola, toss up, turn of the table, turn of the cards, hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate, cast of the dice, throw of the dice, heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, probability, possibility, odds, long odds, run of luck, accidentalness, main chance, odds on, favorable odds, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), situation (circumstance), statistics, theory of Probabilities, theory of Chances, bookmaking, assurance, speculation, gaming, casual, fortuitous, accidental, adventitious, causeless, incidental, contingent, uncaused, undetermined, indeterminate, random, statistical, possible, unintentional, by chance, accidentally, by accident, casually, perchance, for aught one knows, as good would have it, as bad would have it, as luck would have it, as ill-luck would have it, as chance would have it, as it may be, as it may chance, as it may turn up, as it may happen, as the case may be, grasps the skirts of happy chance, the accident of an accident, There but for the grace of God go I.