# enterprise
## English
### Alternative forms

* enterprize (chiefly archaic)
* entreprise (chiefly archaic)

### Etymology

From Old French via Middle English and Middle French entreprise, feminine past participle of entreprendre (“to undertake”), from entre (“in between”) + prendre (“to take”), from Latin inter + prehendō, see prehensile.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈɛntəˌpɹaɪz/
* (US) IPA: /ˈɛntɚˌpɹaɪz/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: en‧ter‧prise

### Noun

enterprise (countable and uncountable, plural enterprises)
* A company, business, organization, or other purposeful endeavor.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:enterprise
    The government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) are a group of financial services corporations which have been created by the United States Congress.
    A micro-enterprise is defined as a company or business having 5 or fewer employees and a low seed capital.
* An undertaking, venture, or project, especially a daring and courageous one.
    Synonyms: pursuit, undertaking; see also Thesaurus:activity
    Biosphere 2 was a scientific enterprise aimed at the exploration of the complex web of interactions within life systems.
* (uncountable) A willingness to undertake new or risky projects; energy and initiative.
    Synonym: initiative
    He has shown great enterprise throughout his early career.
** 1954, Philip Larkin, Continuing to Live:This loss of interest, hair, and enterprise — / Ah, if the game were poker, yes, / You might discard them, draw a full house! / But it's chess.
* (uncountable) Active participation in projects. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

#### Derived terms

* enterpriseless
* enterpriser
* enterprisewide
* enterprisey
* enterprising
* interenterprise
* intraenterprise
* microenterprise
* nonenterprise
* commercial enterprise
* enterprise application integration
* enterprise architecture, enterprise architecture model
* enterprise feedback management
* enterprise liability
* enterprise service bus
* enterprise union
* enterprise value
* free enterprise
* private enterprise, private enterprise number
* scientific enterprise
* small and medium-sized enterprise
* state enterprise
* state-owned enterprise (or state owned enterprise)

#### Translations
### Verb

enterprise (third-person singular simple present enterprises, present participle enterprising, simple past and past participle enterprised)
* (intransitive) To undertake an enterprise, or something hazardous or difficult.
** 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:Charles Mordaunt Earl of Peterborow […] , with only 280 horse and 950 foot , enterprised and accomplished the Conquest of Valentia
* (transitive) To undertake; to begin and attempt to perform; to venture upon.
** 1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada:The business must be enterprised this night.
** c. 1680, Thomas Otway, letter to Elizabeth Barry
    What would I not renounce or enterprise for you!
* (obsolete, transitive) To put up or house; to entertain.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14:Him at the threshold met, and well did enterprize.

### References

* “enterprise”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* enterprise in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “enterprise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* entreprise