Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that seeks adventure.
- n. A soldier of fortune.
- n. A heavy speculator in stocks, business, or trade.
- n. One that attempts to gain wealth and social position by unscrupulous means.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who engages in adventure; an undertaker of uncertain or hazardous actions or enterprises, as in travel, war, trade, speculation, etc.: as, the Young Adventurer, a title given to Prince Charles Edward Stuart on account of his leading the desperate insurrection of 1745. Specifically— One of a class of soldiers in the middle ages who sold their services to the highest bidder, or fought and plundered on their own account
- n. In general, one who undertakes any great commercial risk or speculation; a speculator; in mining, a shareholder in or promoter of mines, particularly under the cost-book system. See cost-book.
- n. In a bad sense, a seeker of fortune by underhand or equivocal means; a speculator upon the credulity or good nature of others; especially, one who ingratiates himself with society by false show or pretense in order to gain a surreptitious livelihood.
Wiktionary
- n. One who adventures; as, the merchant adventurers; one who seeks his fortune in new and hazardous or perilous enterprises.
- n. A soldier of fortune, a speculator.
- n. A social pretender on the lookout for advancement; one who pushes his fortune by equivocal means, as false pretences.
- n. video games A player of adventure games or text adventures.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who adventures; ; one who seeks his fortune in new and hazardous or perilous enterprises.
- n. A social pretender on the lookout for advancement.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who enjoys taking risks
- n. someone who travels into little known regions (especially for some scientific purpose)
Etymologies
- Compare French aventurier; adventure + -er. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The word adventurer has been through a half-millennium of exciting times.”
“Such are among the sad chances to which the life of the Rocky Mountain adventurer is exposed.”
“Another book on the American adventurer is in the works: Ethan has a knack for staying in trouble.”
“The basic difference between a tourist and an adventurer is that the former pays in advance to make sure his arrangement is safe and without any dramatic meanderings from their vacation plans.”
Global Voices in English » Macedonia, Bulgaria: Days of Mourning After the Lake Ohrid Shipwreck
“*As late as 1939, when Life magazine ran an article in which he was referred to as a lobbyist and an adventurer, Bunau-Varilla, at age eighty, responded that he had been no such thing: Unless you call adventurer a man who sacrifices his time, his money and his scientific capacities to the glory of his nation and to the service of her great friend the United States. . .”
“For does not the word adventurer stand for the pioneer, the explorer, the inventor, the soldier and the sailor?”
“I take back the word adventurer, but I still hold to all I have said about him.”
“During the successful revolt of the Spanish provinces from Old Spain, there fought on behalf of Peru a certain Creole adventurer from Cuba, who, by his bravery and good fortune, at length advanced himself to high rank in the patriot army.”
“Giacomo Casanova, the 18th Century adventurer, is one of history’s most misunderstood individuals.”
Interview with Michael Pastore: Ebooks and Digital Publishing | The Creative Penn
“Solomon Kane, the Puritan adventurer, is one of Robert E. Howard’s fictional creations (along with Conan, Kull, and Bran Mak Morn).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adventurer’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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Dramatic Nouns
Nouns to be used as descriptions while writing stories
night owl, early bird, hedonist, ascetic, derelict, explorer, radical, pity friend, cupid, truant, caretaker, guardian and 120 more...
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a beginners' list
a beginner's list should be about novices and all those that start on new journeys
noob, beginner, new, left foot, threshold, dawn, start, go, adventurer, undeterred, brave, foolish and 61 more...
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on the road again
nomad, itinerant, wanderer, gypsy, vagrant, ranger, floater, gadling, scatterling, landloper, wayfarer, rover and 59 more...
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Who Are You?
No one ever says, "I want to be a somnambulist when I grow up." But don't let that get in the way of organizing your Wordie lists.
chevalier, somnambulist, sommelier, troubadour, vicar, majordomo, caliph, polyglot, polymath, apprentice, nuyorican, privateer and 107 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Tales of the Dread Gazebo
Role-playing game terms.
crit, alignment, paladin, cleric, feat, metagaming, npc, halfling, adventurer, attribute, campaign, min-maxing and 5 more...
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Travelling People
traveller, voyager, vagrant, tramp, nomad, gypsy, hitchhiker, itinerant, pilgrim, vagabond, drifter, wayfarer and 18 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for adventurer.
lampbane The listed occupation of most superheroes and role-playing game characters. Sep 5, 2008