Meanings
comparative more enterprising · superlative most enterprising
- Very able and ingenious in business dealings or social advancement.
1 more example
It was now settled that every body was to be amused by her coarse jest and her odd expressions, and therefore everybody was amused. Moreover, there was another great secret of her popularity; all in her company luxuriated in a little complacent sense of their own superiority,—one of the most agreeable of the senses to indulge. Such was the enterprising individual whose saloon was to-night a representation of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 22
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of enterprise
plural enterprisings
- The undertaking of an enterprise; purposeful activity; doings.
What gives these enterprisings their political character are the contentions, claims and experiences of the other.
2010, Melvin Pollner, Mundane Reason: Reality in Everyday and Sociological Discourse
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivemarked by imagination, initiative, and readiness to undertake new projects
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian предприе́мчив
- предприе́мчив (predpriémčiv)very able and ingenious in business dealings
Finnish yritteliäs
- yritteliäsvery able and ingenious in business dealings
French entreprenant
- entreprenantvery able and ingenious in business dealings
German unternehmungslustig, unternehmerisch
- unternehmungslustigvery able and ingenious in business dealings
- unternehmerischvery able and ingenious in business dealings
Irish borrúil
- borrúilvery able and ingenious in business dealings
Italian intraprendente
- intraprendentevery able and ingenious in business dealings
Latin experiens
- experiensvery able and ingenious in business dealings
Polish przedsiębiorczy
- przedsiębiorczyvery able and ingenious in business dealings
Russian предприи́мчивый
- предприи́мчивый (predpriímčivyj)very able and ingenious in business dealings
Swedish företagsam, initiativrik
- företagsamvery able and ingenious in business dealings
- initiativrikvery able and ingenious in business dealings
Cite this entry
enterprising. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enterprising
“enterprising.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enterprising. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “enterprising,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enterprising.
Source: enterprising on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.