Definition of entrepreneur
: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of entrepreneur from the Web
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Hard-charging entrepreneurs have been free to break into new businesses around them.
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What happens if one entrepreneur wants to put in a runway right where someone else has made another ice sculpture of Donald Trump?
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Neocities, built in 2013 by Kyle Drake, 33, a web entrepreneur based in Palo Alto, Calif., is a homage to GeoCities, the early web hosting platform.
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And the pressures from the real estate market have led to entrepreneurs spreading out.
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The two-course sequence helped propel her and three other students into a competition for young entrepreneurs sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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The headlining speakers include Youtuber and director Casey Neistat and former NFL player and entrepreneur Tiki Barber.
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Google and modern farming entrepreneurs including Kimbal Musk, brother to Martian hopeful Elon Musk, have also shown interest in the project.
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The current Brandemonium lineup includes the following, with the full lineup and panel descriptions to be released soon: Seth Godin, bestselling author and entrepreneurRick Gomez, CMO –
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'entrepreneur.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Characteristics of an entrepreneur
You might well wonder whether entrepreneur simply means “a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money” or whether it carries an additional connotation of far-sightedness and innovation. The answer, perhaps unsatisfyingly, is that it can go in either direction.
Entrepreneur has been in used in English to refer to a kind of businessman since at least the middle of the 18th century, when it appeared in translation of the King of Prussia’s instructions for his generals (“. . . if the country happens not to abound in forage, you must agree with some Entrepreneur for the quantity required.”). During the 19th century, it was also used of a go-between or a person who undertakes any kind of activity (as opposed to just a business).
By the early 20th century entrepreneur appears to have taken on the connotation of go-getter when applied to an independent business owner, a quality that may also be found in the phrase entrepreneurial spirit, which began being used at about the same time.
Origin and Etymology of entrepreneur
French, from Old French, from entreprendre to undertake — more at enterprise
Other Business Terms
ENTREPRENEUR Defined for English Language Learners
entrepreneur
playDefinition of entrepreneur for English Language Learners
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: a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money
Learn More about entrepreneur
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See words that rhyme with entrepreneur Spanish Central: Translation of entrepreneur Nglish: Translation of entrepreneur for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of entrepreneur for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about entrepreneur
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