adventurer

English

Etymology

From adventure +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• : IPA^(key): /ædˈvɛn.tʃɚ.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

adventurer (plural adventurers)

1. One who enjoys adventures.
   • 2013 January, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 1, page 59:

     European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.

2. A person who seeks a fortune in new and possibly dangerous enterprises.
3. A soldier of fortune, a speculator.
4. A person who tries to advance their social position by somewhat devious means
5. (video games) A player of adventure games or text adventures.
   • 1983, PC Mag (volume 2, number 2, July 1983, page 351)

     Meanwhile, the ranks of adventurers grow, be they manic puzzle-solvers or people like me, who like to look under the Robners' beds just for the hell of it.

   • 1992, Tim Kemp, Microfair Madness (game review in Your Sinclair issue 75, March 1992)

     It's a challenging game for the inexperienced adventurer, and should even give the hardened pros a bit of a run for their money.

Synonyms

• (one who enjoys adventures): man of action
• (soldier of fortune): see Thesaurus:mercenary

Related terms

• adventuress

Translations

one who enjoys adventures

• Arabic: مُغَامِر (muḡāmir)
• Azerbaijani: avantürist, macəraçı
• Basque: abenturazale
• Bulgarian: авантюрист (bg) (avantjurist)
• Catalan: aventurer m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冒險者／冒险者 (zh) (màoxiǎnzhě), 冒险者 (zh) (màoxiǎnzhě)

• Czech: dobrodruh (cs) m
• Dutch: avonturier (nl) m
• Finnish: seikkailija (fi)
• French: aventurier (fr) m, aventurière (fr) f
• Galician: aventureiro m
• German: Abenteurer (de) m, Abenteurerin (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: τυχοδιώκτης (el) m (tychodióktis), τυχοδιώκτρια (el) f (tychodióktria)
• Hungarian: kalandor (hu), felfedező (hu)
• Indonesian: petualang (id)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: avventuriero (it) m
• Japanese: 冒険家 (ぼうけんか, bōkenka)
• Maori: kaikapua, kaewa
• Portuguese: aventureiro (pt) m
• Russian: авантюри́ст (ru) m (avantjuríst), авантюри́стка (ru) f (avantjurístka)
• Spanish: aventurero m, aventurera f
• Swedish: äventyrare c
• Turkish: maceraperest (tr), maceracı (tr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) ventüran (vo), (♂) hiventüran, (♀) jiventüran

social pretender on the lookout for advancement

• German: Thronbewerber m, Thronbewerberin f
• Greek: τυχοδιώκτης (el) m (tychodióktis)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: kalandor (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} aventurier (sq)
• French: ^{(please verify)} aventurier (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Hebrew: הרפתקן (harpatqan) m, הרפתקנית (harpatqanyt) f

Further reading

• “adventurer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “adventurer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.