ENTERPRISE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does enterprise mean? 

• ENTERPRISE (noun)
  The noun ENTERPRISE has 3 senses:

1. a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness)

2. an organization created for business ventures

3. readiness to embark on bold new ventures

  Familiarity information: ENTERPRISE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENTERPRISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

endeavor; endeavour; enterprise

Context example:

he had doubts about the whole enterprise

Hypernyms ("enterprise" is a kind of...):

labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "enterprise"):

fraudulent scheme; illegitimate enterprise; racket (an illegal enterprise (such as extortion or fraud or drug peddling or prostitution) carried on for profit)

forlorn hope (a hopeless or desperate enterprise)

business activity; commercial activity (activity undertaken as part of a commercial enterprise)

Derivation:

enterpriser (someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An organization created for business ventures

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

a growing enterprise must have a bold leader

Hypernyms ("enterprise" is a kind of...):

organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "enterprise"):

giant (an unusually large enterprise)

collective (members of a cooperative enterprise)

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

commercial enterprise (an enterprise connected with commerce)

Derivation:

enterpriser (someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Readiness to embark on bold new ventures

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

enterprise; enterprisingness; go-ahead; initiative

Hypernyms ("enterprise" is a kind of...):

drive (the trait of being highly motivated)

Derivation:

enterpriser (someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it)

 Context examples 

Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The productive enterprises concerned with food processing.

(Food Industry, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A listing of the words used in some enterprise.

(Enterprise Vocabulary, NCI Thesaurus)

And now all was ready for the enterprise.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If he met it in some nefarious enterprise her lips might be sealed.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a marathon on the surface of another world.

(Opportunity Mars Rover Passes Marathon Distance, NASA)

A person, enterprise, or entity that produces finished goods.

(Manufacturer, NCI Thesaurus)

I admit that the paper was exuberant in the matter, out of compliment to its own enterprise in sending a correspondent, but the other great dailies were hardly less full in their account.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A for-profit business, including individuals operating commercial enterprises as sole proprietorships, limited and general partnerships, and corporations; or a not-for-profit organization, including private educational and health services institutions, cooperatives, and corporations.

(Commercial Organization, NCI Thesaurus)