entrepreneurial

adjective

en·​tre·​pre·​neur·​ial ˌän-trə-p(r)ə-ˈnər-ē-əl 

-ˈn(y)u̇r-, 

ˌäⁿn-

: having to do with the creation and development of economic ventures : of, relating to, characteristic of, or suited to an entrepreneur

entrepreneurial skills/ambitions/projects

entrepreneurial zeal

With your colleagues and the kids out of the way, what do you buy for that spouse or friend who's gone the entrepreneurial route and is working at home?

—Don Crabb

Harvard Business School, long known as a gateway to corporate America, last October established a beachhead in the nation's entrepreneurial epicenter, California's Silicon Valley.

—Marc Ballon

… economic development is more likely to occur (if at all) in the more entrepreneurial southern region.

—Sarah Searight

also : engaged or interested in the development of economic ventures

an ambitious and entrepreneurial young woman

a company founded by a group of entrepreneurial scientists

entrepreneurialism

ˌäⁿn-trə-p(r)ə-ˈnər-ē-ə-li-zəm 

-ˈn(y)u̇r-, 

ˌäⁿn-

noun

The map shows the distribution of high-tech manufacturing firms in the southeastern United States …, helping to identify towns and cities that are lodestones of high-tech entrepreneurialism.

—John Tierney

entrepreneurially

ˌäⁿn-trə-p(r)ə-ˈnər-ē-ə-lē 

-ˈn(y)u̇r-, 

ˌäⁿn-

adverb

… some 25 teams, drawn mostly from the ranks of universities and entrepreneurially minded engineers …

—Joseph Hooper

Examples of entrepreneurial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Beginning in 2012, my colleagues and I helped thousands of interdisciplinary teams at IBM become more entrepreneurial, more agile, and more customer-focused. —Phil Gilbert, Fortune, 12 Nov. 2025

California historian Ed Allen sees connections between the Gold Rush era and the state's entrepreneurial culture, which has propelled California into a global powerhouse ‒ the nation's most populous state and the world's fourth-largest economy. —Andre Byik, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025

Huge swathes of cash are flowing from Japan to European tech startups as risk-averse investors favor a more mature entrepreneurial ecosystem, helping to scale the continent’s booming deep tech cluster. —Tasmin Lockwood, CNBC, 10 Nov. 2025

That miracle has yet to reach Elias, who’s struggling to stay afloat and maintain his entrepreneurial ambitions. —Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 8 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for entrepreneurial

• seigneurial