Word.ws English Dictionary

enterprise

Syllables: en·ter·priseUK/ˈɛntəˌpɹaɪz//ˈɛntɚˌpɹaɪz/

enterprise noun: a company, business, organization, or other purposeful endeavor.

Noun

enterprise (countable and uncountable, plural enterprises)

  1. A company, business, organization, or other purposeful endeavor.
    • The government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) are a group of financial services corporations which have been created by the United States Congress.
    • A micro-enterprise is defined as a company or business having 5 or fewer employees and a low seed capital.
  2. An undertaking, venture, or project, especially a daring and courageous one.
    • Biosphere 2 was a scientific enterprise aimed at the exploration of the complex web of interactions within life systems.
  3. (uncountable) A willingness to undertake new or risky projects; energy and initiative.
    • He has shown great enterprise throughout his early career.
    • This loss of interest, hair, and enterprise — / Ah, if the game were poker, yes, / You might discard them, draw a full house! / But it's chess.1954, Philip Larkin, Continuing to Live
    Synonyms:
    initiative
  4. (uncountable) Active participation in projects.

Verb

enterprise (third-person singular simple present enterprises, present participle enterprising, simple past and past participle enterprised)

  1. (intransitive) To undertake an enterprise, or something hazardous or difficult.
    • Charles Mordaunt Earl of Peterborow[…], with only 280 horse and 950 foot , enterprised and accomplished the Conquest of Valentia1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]
  2. (transitive) To undertake; to begin and attempt to perform; to venture upon.
    • The business must be enterprised this night.1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada
    • What would I not renounce or enterprise for you!c. 1680, Thomas Otway, letter to Elizabeth Barry
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To put up or house; to entertain.
    • Him at the threshold met, and well did enterprize.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14

Proper noun capitalized: Enterprise

Enterprise

  1. A city in Coffee County, Alabama.
  2. An unincorporated community in Amador County, California.
  3. An unincorporated community in Lake County, California.
  4. An unincorporated community in Volusia County, Florida.
  5. An unincorporated community in Spencer County, Indiana.
  6. A minor city in Dickinson County, Kansas.
  7. A town in Clarke County, Mississippi.
  8. An unincorporated community in Union County, Mississippi.
  9. An unincorporated community in Linn County, Missouri.
  10. An unincorporated community in Shelby County, Missouri.
  11. An unincorporated town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada.
  12. An unincorporated community in Hocking County, Ohio.
Show 10 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. An unincorporated community in Preble County, Ohio.
  2. A city, the county seat of Wallowa County, Oregon.
  3. A city in Washington County, Utah.
  4. A census-designated place in Morgan County, Utah.
  5. An unincorporated community in Wirt County, West Virginia.
  6. A town and unincorporated community in Oneida County, Wisconsin.
  7. A hamlet in the South Slave Region, Northwest Territories, Canada.
  8. A hamlet in Stone Mills, Ontario, Canada.
  9. A rural municipality of Saskatchewan, Canada.
  10. A village in the Demerara-Mahaica region, Guyana.

enterprise meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

enterprise in Hindi

company, business, organization, or endeavor
उद्यम udyam, उपक्रम upakram
undertaking, especially a daring and courageous one
उद्यम udyam

enterprise in Tamil

வணிக நடுவம், நிறுவனம், தொழில் நிறுவனம், தொழிற்துணிபு, தொழில் வினைத் துணிபு, வினைத்திட்பம்

enterprise in Urdu

company, business, organization, or endeavor
کَمْپَنی kampanī, شِرْکَت śirkat

enterprise in Bengali

company, business, organization, or endeavor
উদ্যোগ uddōg
More languagesFewer languages
enterprise in Telugu
ఎంటర్ప్రైజ్
enterprise in Malayalam
എന്റർപ്രൈസ് enṟaṟpraisŭ
enterprise in Kannada
ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ saṃsthe
enterprise in Punjabi
ਉੱਦਮ
enterprise in Gujarati
એન્ટરપ્રાઇઝ, એન્ટરપ્રાઈઝ
enterprise in Sanskrit
उत्सव utsavá, प्रारम्भ prārambha
enterprise in Nepali
उद्यम
enterprise in Arabic
مُغَامَرَة muḡāmara, شَرِكَة šarika
enterprise in Malay
syarikat, perusahaan
enterprise in Indonesian
badan usaha, perusahaan, syarikat
enterprise in Thai
ธุรกิจ tú-rá-gìt
enterprise in Vietnamese
xí nghiệp
enterprise in Myanmar
စီးပွားရေးလုပ်ငန်း ci:pwa:re:lupngan:, ကုမ္ပဏီ kumpa.ni

Examples of enterprise in a sentence

  • Alcoa is now a lean and agile enterprise, after having split last year into two entities.
  • The servicification of legacy enterprise solutions simplifies ongoing integration and significantly mitigates risk.
  • Do not think the worse of him for his enterprise.

All 40 example sentences with enterprise

Synonyms of enterprise

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of enterprise

Forms of enterprise

Noun
pluralenterprises
alternative form (obsolete)enterprize
alternative form (obsolete)entreprise
Verb
third-person singular presententerprises
present participleenterprising
past participleenterprised
pastenterprised

Plural of enterprise: enterprises

Origin of enterprise

From Old French via Middle English and Middle French entreprise, feminine past participle of entreprendre (“to undertake”), from entre (“in between”) + prendre (“to take”), from Latin inter + prehendō, see prehensile.

Words formed from enterprise

Phrases with enterprise

Questions about enterprise

What does enterprise mean?
Enterprise means a company, business, organization, or other purposeful endeavor.
What is enterprise in Hindi?
Enterprise in Hindi is उद्यम (udyam), उपक्रम (upakram). See Enterprise meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is enterprise?
Enterprise can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce enterprise?
Enterprise is pronounced /ˈɛntəˌpɹaɪz/ (UK).
What is the plural of enterprise?
The plural of enterprise is enterprises.

Words near enterprise in the dictionary

  1. enterparlances
  2. enterplead
  3. enterpleaded
  4. enterpleading
  5. enterpleads
  6. enterprise
  7. enterprise application integration
  8. enterprise application integrations
  9. enterprise architecture
  10. enterprise architecture model
  11. enterprise architecture models

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: enterprise (page history and authors); Enterprise (page history and authors); enterprise (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); enterprise (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); എന്റർപ്രൈസ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); enterprise (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); enterprise (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); उत्सव (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); enterprise (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-enterprise.ogg.

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