Word.ws English Dictionary

at adventure

at adventure is the alternative form of at a venture.

Meaning of at a venture

Prepositional phrase

  1. (dated) at random, without application of due thought, haphazardly or recklessly
    • For when the Mind is once re-pleniſh’d with ſound and good Principles, not taken up at a Venture, but upon the most mature Deliberation, what can we reaſonably expect, but that it ſhould exert it ſelf in a ſuitable Manner upon all proper Occaſions.1713, George Oldham, A Sermon Preach’d at Bishop’s-Stortford in Hertfordshire, Aug. 25. 1713. at the Anniversary Solemnity of the School-Feast.

Origin of at adventure

From Middle English at aventure, a calque of Anglo-Norman and Old French a l'aventure (“at random”).

Questions about at adventure

What is at adventure the alternative form of?
At adventure is the alternative form of at a venture.

Words near at adventure in the dictionary

  1. at a stand
  2. at a stretch
  3. at a stroke
  4. at a time
  5. at a venture
  6. at adventure
  7. at all
  8. at all adventures
  9. at all costs
  10. at all events
  11. at all hands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at adventure (page history and authors); at a venture (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “at adventure.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_adventure. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.