Meanings
- datedat random, without application of due thought, haphazardly or recklessly
For my own part, I never in my life began a letter more at a venture than the present.
1780, William Cowper, letter, 5 June2 more examples
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.He had nothing better to do than to take chance for his guide, and to go at a venture through the streets of the city.
1911, Jules Verne, translated by Charles F. Horne, Round the World in Eighty Days
Origin
- Old Frencha l'aventure“at random”
- Englishat a venture
From earlier at adventure, with the same meaning, from Anglo-Norman and Old French a l'aventure (“at random”).
More words from Old French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
at a venture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20a%20venture
“at a venture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20a%20venture. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “at a venture,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20a%20venture.
Source: at a venture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.