enterprise

noun

en·​ter·​prise ˈen-tər-ˌprīz 

ˈen-tə-ˌprīz

1

: a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky

2

a

: a unit of economic organization or activity

especially : a business organization

b

: a systematic purposeful activity

agriculture is the main economic enterprise among these people

3

: readiness to engage in daring or difficult action : initiative

showed great enterprise in dealing with the crisis

Synonyms of enterprise

• company
• firm
• house
• business
• interest

Examples of enterprise in a Sentence

Moving the drilling rig offshore was a costly enterprise.

Agriculture is the main economic enterprise among these people.

When he purchased the company it was a thriving commercial enterprise.

He was criticized for his lack of enterprise in dealing with the crisis.

Recent Examples on the Web

Snowflake and Databricks all have their own semantic layer offerings baked into stacks enterprises are already paying for. —Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026

Software was experiencing a sharp drop following ServiceNow 's earnings report, which has reignited market fears about AI's impact on enterprise software. —Jeff Marks, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026

The controversial mega-merger announced February 27 assigned WBD an equity value of $81 billion and an enterprise value of $110 billion. —Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 23 Apr. 2026

While Anthropic and OpenAI are busy duking it out over enterprise and government customers, Google is stepping right in to gobble up everyday users that are already accustomed to turning to the tech company to run their email, meetings, and other large swaths of their lives. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 22 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from entreprendre to undertake, from entre- inter- + prendre to take — more at prize

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing enterprise

• enterprise zone
• free enterprise
• private enterprise

Rhymes for enterprise

• advertise
• aggrandize
• agonize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize

Kids Definition

enterprise

noun

en·​ter·​prise ˈent-ə(r)-ˌprīz 

1

: a difficult, complicated, or risky project or undertaking

2

: readiness to engage in daring or difficult action

showed great enterprise in the face of danger

3

: a business organization

enterpriser

-ˌprī-zər

noun

Legal Definition

enterprise

noun

en·​ter·​prise ˈen-tər-ˌprīz 

: an economic organization or activity

especially : a business organization