misadventure

noun

mis·​ad·​ven·​ture ˌmi-səd-ˈven-chər 

: misfortune, mishap

Synonyms of misadventure

• misfortune
• tragedy

Examples of misadventure in a Sentence

His vacation turned into a series of misadventures.

a string of financial misadventures eventually left him broke

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2023, Gallaher had mounted a campaign to try and unseat Dave DeGroot as Mount Pleasant village board president, blaming incumbents for the Foxconn misadventure. —Jordan Novet, CNBC, 25 Nov. 2025

Lao told Sophia colorful stories about his misadventures as a kid. —Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 25 Nov. 2025

That conspiracist angle yields hilarious misadventures, but the really dark joke is that the rest of us deal with this kind of thing on a daily basis in 2025. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 12 Nov. 2025

Apart from the moral morass and human cost of America’s foreign military misadventures, there is the lasting economic damage of the wars of which Cheney was such an avid advocate. —Ben Wedeman, CNN Money, 5 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English mesaventure, from Anglo-French, from mesavenir to turn out badly, from mes- mis- + avenir to happen, from Latin advenire — more at adventure

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing misadventure

• death by misadventure

Rhymes for misadventure

• peradventure
• adventure
• debenture
• indenture
• bencher
• denture
• quencher
• trencher
• venture

Kids Definition

misadventure

noun

mis·​ad·​ven·​ture ˌmis-əd-ˈven-chər 

: misfortune sense 2

Legal Definition

misadventure

noun

mis·​ad·​ven·​ture ˌmi-səd-ˈven-chər 

: an accident that causes serious injury or death to a person and that does not involve negligence, wrongful purpose, or unlawful conduct