Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An undertaking that is dangerous, daring, or of uncertain outcome.
  • noun A business enterprise involving some risk in expectation of gain.
  • noun Something, such as money or cargo, at hazard in a risky enterprise.
  • intransitive verb To expose to danger or risk.
  • intransitive verb To brave the dangers of.
  • intransitive verb To express at the risk of denial, criticism, or censure.
  • intransitive verb To take a risk; dare.
  • intransitive verb To proceed despite possible danger or risk.
  • idiom (at a venture) By mere chance or fortune; at random.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To dare; have courage or presumption, as to do, undertake, or say.
  • To run a hazard or risk; try the chance; make a venture; expose one's life, fortune, etc.
  • To expose to hazard; risk; stake.
  • To run the hazard of; expose one's self to.
  • To put or send on a venture or commercial speculation.
  • To confide in; rely on; trust.
  • noun An undertaking of chance or danger; the risking of something upon an event which cannot be foreseen with certainty; the staking of something; a hazard.
  • noun Specifically, a scheme for making gain by way of trade; a commercial speculation.
  • noun The thing put to hazard; a stake; a risk; particularly, something sent to sea in trade.
  • noun Chance; hap; contingency; luck; an event that is not or cannot, be foreseen.
  • noun Synonyms Hazard, etc. See risk.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An undertaking of chance or danger; the risking of something upon an event which can not be foreseen with certainty; a hazard; a risk; a speculation.
  • noun An event that is not, or can not be, foreseen; an accident; chance; hap; contingency; luck.
  • noun The thing put to hazard; a stake; a risk; especially, something sent to sea in trade.
  • noun at hazard; without seeing the end or mark; without foreseeing the issue; at random.
  • transitive verb To expose to hazard; to risk; to hazard.
  • transitive verb To put or send on a venture or chance.
  • transitive verb rare To confide in; to rely on; to trust.
  • intransitive verb To hazard one's self; to have the courage or presumption to do, undertake, or say something; to dare.
  • intransitive verb To make a venture; to run a hazard or risk; to take the chances.
  • intransitive verb to dare to engage in; to attempt without any certainty of success.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A risky or daring undertaking or journey.
  • verb transitive To undertake a risky or daring journey.
  • verb transitive To risk or offer.
  • verb intransitive to dare to engage in; to attempt without any certainty of success. Used with at or on
  • verb transitive To put or send on a venture or chance.
  • verb transitive To confide in; to rely on; to trust.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
  • noun an investment that is very risky but could yield great profits
  • verb put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
  • verb put at risk
  • noun a commercial undertaking that risks a loss but promises a profit
  • noun any venturesome undertaking especially one with an uncertain outcome

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, chance, short for aventure, adventure; see adventure.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of adventure.

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Examples

  • Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term venture capitalist.

    Books in the Mail (W/E 04/11/2009) RobB 2009

  • Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term venture capitalist.

    Archive 2009-04-01 RobB 2009

  • By definition, the term venture implies uncertainty, high risk reward and the probability of zero return … however, in hedging that risk reward by throwing out the least probable high return "ventures" the VC industry betrayed the idea of a VC industry over the last 15 years and hurt the entire technological and entrepreneurial effort in the US.

    DealBook 2009

  • By definition, the term venture implies uncertainty, high risk reward and the probability of zero return … however, in hedging that risk reward by throwing out the least probable high return "ventures" the VC industry betrayed the idea of a VC industry over the last 15 years and hurt the entire technological and entrepreneurial effort in the US.

    DealBook 2009

  • Thomas Cook Chief Executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said the venture is a landmark deal and a significant consolidation opportunity.

    Thomas Cook, Co-Op to Merge Travel Units Simon Zekaria 2010

  • The success or failure of the venture is a factor of the success or failure of reconstruction.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Risk of Catastrophic Success In Gaza 2009

  • So we look at what we call a venture backed brand new IPO and certainly an IPO has been around the block for a while.

    Transcript: Robert Greifeld Steve Forbes 2010

  • A key component of this venture is the ability to connect the digital image of a business storefront to the traditional business data captured by infoUSA.

    infoUSA Business Photo Database Coming to Web Engines; ProQuest and Gale Agreement Enables Searching Across Centuries of Scholarship; Foundation Center Names 50 New Funding Information Centers in 2007; « ResourceShelf 2007

  • He turned short upon me, and asked me what I called a venture?

    The Further Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Robinson Crusoe 1958

  • Speculative interest has its legitimate purpose in giving an opportunity to those who have bought stock and held it during the development period to make the profits to which they are entitled ifs the venture is a success, but it is the hard, honest work on, the ground that is going to develop the Great Bear Lake area or any other area in Canada today.

    The Mining Riddle of the Canadian Northwest 1933

Comments

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  • "Naught venture, naught have."

    Thomas Tusser (1524?-1580) Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, ch. 16. October's Abstract

    September 25, 2009

  • "Ours is a privileged moment: never before has it been so easy to gain access to the errant musings, rapid-fire opinions, and random proclivity-ies of venture capitalists and others we enrich."

    Source: How Silicon Valley’s Workplace Culture Produced James Damore’s Google Memo

    January 22, 2018