venture

English

Etymology

Shortening of adventure.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛnt͡ʃɚ/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

venture (plural ventures)

1. A risky or daring undertaking or journey.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island. Chapter 4.

     My heart was beating finely when we two set forth in the cold night upon this dangerous venture.

2. An event that is not, or cannot be, foreseen; an accident; chance; contingency.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

3. The thing risked; a stake; especially, something sent to sea in trade.
   • Shakespeare

     My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.

Translations

A risky or daring undertaking or journey

• Bulgarian: авантюра (bg) f (avantyúra)
• Dutch: risicovolle onderneming of reis
• Russian: авантюра (ru) f (avantjura), рискованное (ru) (riskovannoje) начинание (ru) n (načinanije)

• Spanish: aventura (es) f
• Volapük: riskod (vo)

Verb

venture (third-person singular simple present ventures, present participle venturing, simple past and past participle ventured)

1. (transitive) To undertake a risky or daring journey.
   • J. Dryden, Jr.

     who freights a ship to venture on the seas

2. (transitive) To risk or offer.

   to venture funds

   to venture a guess

   • Shakespeare

     I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13

     Till then they had only exchanged glances of the most casual but now under the brim of her new hat she ventured a look at him and the face that met her gaze there in the twilight, wan and strangely drawn, seemed to her the saddest she had ever seen.

3. (intransitive) to dare to engage in; to attempt without any certainty of success. Used with at or on
4. (transitive) To put or send on a venture or chance.

   to venture a horse to the West Indies

5. (transitive) To confide in; to rely on; to trust.
   • Addison

     A man would be well enough pleased to buy silks of one whom he would not venture to feel his pulse.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Derived terms

• venture capital

Related terms

• venturesome
• venturous

Translations

to undertake a risky journey

• Bulgarian: авантюра (bg) f (avantyúra)
• French: s'aventurer (fr)

• Portuguese: aventurar-se

to risk

• Catalan: arriscar (ca)
• Dutch: riskeren (nl), wagen (nl)
• Latin: audeo

• Portuguese: arriscar (pt)
• Russian: рисковать (ru) (riskovatʹ)
• Spanish: arriesgar (es)

to dare to engage in; to attempt without any certainty of success

• Korean: 감행하다 (gam-haeng-ha-da)

• Russian: отваживаться (ru) (otvaživatʹsja)

External links

• venture in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• venture in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Italian

Adjective

venture f

1. feminine plural of venturo

Noun

venture f

1. plural form of ventura

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Latin

Participle

ventūre

1. vocative masculine singular of ventūrus