venture

Pluralventures

Formsventures, venturing, ventured

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A daring or risky undertaking, especially a business project or a journey into the unknown.

   The expedition was a costly venture into territory no map had charted.

   Investors poured millions into the startup, knowing every new venture carries real risk.

   Similarundertaking, enterprise, endeavor, pursuit, journey

   Note

   A clipped form of adventure, and the two words have never fully parted: both name an undertaking whose outcome is uncertain. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island has its narrator set forth "upon this dangerous venture," and set forth on, set out on and embark on remain its natural verbs. Enterprise, its closest synonym, leans toward initiative and organization. Venture keeps the risk in front.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To make one's way through a risky or unfamiliar place or route, braving the danger involved.

   They ventured the mountain trail even as the snow began to fall.

   Only the bravest captains would venture the uncharted waters beyond the cape.

   Similarbrave, risk, navigate, attempt

   Oppositeavoid, shun

   Note

   The journey verb rarely travels alone. It pairs naturally with forth, out, on or into. Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) has a hero who "ventures forth from the world of common day," and John Dryden Jun.'s Juvenal of 1693 freights a ship "to venture on the seas." Without a particle, as in venture the trail, the place itself becomes the thing braved.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To dare to attempt something without any assurance that it will succeed.

   She ventured to propose a radical solution no one else would consider.

   They were willing to venture where success was far from guaranteed.

   Similardare, presume, attempt

   Oppositehesitate, shrink

   Note

   Here the daring lies in the attempt itself, not in a journey. Used intransitively, the verb takes at or on before the thing being tried, as in venturing on a reply or venturing at a guess. Compare the risky journey, where the boldness is in going somewhere. In this sense it is in trying something whose outcome nobody can promise.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To put something, such as money or goods, at risk or offer it in the hope of gain.

   The merchant ventured a large sum on the season's harvest.

   Few investors will venture their money when markets look unstable.

   Similarrisk, stake, gamble, hazard, wager

   Note

   The verb of the proverb Nothing ventured, nothing gained, where what is risked goes unnamed. Usually the object is spelled out: you venture funds, or venture it, as a speaker does in Shakespeare's King John: "I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it." Venture a guess sits on the border with offering an opinion, and what is staked there is your credibility.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To put forward something, especially an opinion or suggestion.

   He ventured a cautious remark about the company's future.

   Before anyone else spoke, she dared to venture a different interpretation.

   Similaroffer, suggest, propose, volunteer, advance

   Oppositewithhold

   Note

   A speech verb with a note of caution in it: someone who ventures a view is offering it tentatively, not pronouncing it. It slips into the place of says after the words spoken, often with the speaker inverted: "ventures Heston Blumenthal," in Oliver Burkeman's "Things that make you go yum" (2000), introducing a hedged description of a flavor that begins "probably quite a good description."

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To put or send something out on a risky undertaking or on chance, knowing it may be lost.

   Few owners would venture an untested colt to a race overseas.

   The growers ventured part of their first harvest to a market three states away, unsure it would sell.

   Similarrisk, stake, hazard, gamble

   Note

   The verb that sends a thing out on chance instead of putting oneself at risk. To venture a horse to the West Indies is to ship it off and hope it pays. It is the action behind goods risked at sea, because whatever is ventured in this way becomes a venture. The object is typically the thing sent, followed by to and a destination.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The thing put at risk in a speculation, especially goods or merchandise sent overseas to be traded.

   Half the town had a stake in the venture sailing for the spice islands.

   When pirates seized the vessel, every venture aboard was forfeited.

   Similarstake

   Note

   Merchants' language, in which a venture is not the voyage but what rides on it. In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice a trader reassures himself, "My ventures are not in one bottom trusted": his cargoes are spread across several hulls, so no single wreck can ruin him. The noun counts here, because each consignment is a venture. Stake is the close modern equivalent, and the verb of sending goods out is its partner.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   An event that is not foreseen, or could not have been foreseen, so that it happens as if by chance.

   A certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.

   1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

   Similaraccident, chance, possibility, eventuality, contingency

   Note

   Its home is the phrase at a venture, meaning "at random, without aiming." The King James Bible of 1611 tells of a man who "drew a bow at a venture" and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. Elsewhere a modern reader hears a risky undertaking, so for an unforeseen happening the clearer words are accident, chance or contingency.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To put one's trust and confidence in someone or something and rely on them.

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

   1711, Joseph Addison, “No. 21, Saturday, March 24, 1710-11”

   Similartrust

   Oppositedistrust, mistrust

   Note

   A meaning that reads oddly now. Joseph Addison, writing in The Spectator in 1711, describes a man you would gladly buy silks from but "would not venture to feel his pulse". In other words, you would not trust him to act as your doctor. The construction is venture someone to do something. A modern reader tends to hear "dare," so the trust meaning needs clear context.

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