Adventure (from Latin res adventura, a thing about to happen), chance, and especially chance of danger; so a hazardous enterprise or remarkable incident. Thus an adventurer, from meaning one who takes part in some speculative course of action, came to mean one who lived by his wits and a person of no character.

The word is also used in certain restricted legal connections. Joint adventure, for instance, may be distinguished from partnership. A bill of adventure in maritime law (now apparently obsolete) is a writing signed by the shipmaster declaring that goods shipped in his name really belong to another, to whom he is responsible.

The bill of gross adventure in French maritime law is an instrument making a loan on maritime security.

See also

• Adventure games, a genre of computer games
• Action-adventure game
• In role-playing games, an adventure is a specific storyline or plotline.
• Adventure racing
• Adventure tourism
• Bostonian Adventure Society
• Men's adventure, also known as the sweats, a genre of pulp magazine featuring tales of exotic adventure and wartime heroism.

Other uses

The name Adventure may refer to—

• Colossal Cave Adventure, the text-based computer game.
• Adventure for the Atari 2600, inspired by the Colossal Cave Adventure.
• Adventure!, a pulp fiction role-playing game.
• The Adventure Game, a game show which aired on BBC2.
• Adventure, the 1978 album from the punk rock band, Television.