What does adventurous mean?
Adventurous is an adjective describing a willingness to take risks and embrace new, unfamiliar, or exciting experiences. Applied to people, it suggests boldness and curiosity — an adventurous traveler seeks out remote destinations, while an adventurous eater welcomes unfamiliar cuisines. Applied to things, it characterizes actions, plans, or choices that involve notable risk or novelty, as in 'an adventurous investment' or 'an adventurous design decision.' The word carries a strongly positive connotation: it implies courage and openness rather than recklessness, and its antonyms — timid, cautious, unadventurous — frame it as the opposite of timidity. Derived from the Latin verb advenire, 'to arrive or come to,' via Old French aventure, it shares deep roots with words like venture and prevent. It rhymes pleasingly with dangerous, courageous, and outrageous, a family of words all concerned, in different ways, with risk and boldness. Versatile and vivid, adventurous is a staple of travel writing, biography, and everyday praise alike.
Willing to take risks or try new experiences, ideas, or methods; characterized by a desire for adventure.
"He was adventurous enough to quit his job and sail across the Atlantic."
Frequently used both predicatively ('she is adventurous') and attributively ('an adventurous choice').
(Of food) appealing to someone open to unusual, exotic, or unfamiliar flavors.
"The restaurant's tasting menu suits even the most adventurous palate."
A modern sense, common in phrases like 'adventurous eater' and 'adventurous palate.'
Adventurous and dangerous are near-rhymes born from the same Latin root — one word for seeking risk, the other for finding it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adventurous
Adventurous derives from the Latin verb advenire, meaning 'to arrive' or 'to come to,' which passed into Old French as aventure, 'chance' or 'what happens by chance.' Middle English adopted the word as adventure, and the adjective adventurous emerged from it in the late medieval period, originally carrying senses of risk and chance. It thus shares its root with venture, prevent, and invent, all of which trace back to forms of the Latin verb venire, 'to come.'
Related word forms
How adventurous is actually used
Almost always positive or admiring in tone; calling someone adventurous praises their boldness rather than criticizing recklessness. Commonly used attributively ('an adventurous choice') as well as predicatively ('she is adventurous'). The food-related sense is largely a modern development.
Easily confused with adventurous
Advantageous means beneficial or favorable, while adventurous means willing to take risks or seek excitement.