enterprise
( enterprises plural )
1 n-count An enterprise is a company or business, often a small one. (BUSINESS) usu with supp, oft adj N
There are plenty of small industrial enterprises.
2 n-count An enterprise is something new, difficult, or important that you do or try to do.
usu supp N
(=venture)
Horse breeding is indeed a risky enterprise.
3 n-uncount Enterprise is the activity of managing companies and businesses and starting new ones. (BUSINESS) usu supp N
He is still involved in voluntary work promoting local enterprise., ...a national program of subsidies to private enterprise.
4 n-uncount Enterprise is the ability to think of new and effective things to do, together with an eagerness to do them.,
(approval)
...the spirit of enterprise worthy of a free and industrious people.
enterprise zone ( enterprise zones plural ) An enterprise zone is an area, usually a depressed or inner-city area, where the government offers incentives in order to attract new businesses. (BUSINESS) n-count
Because it is in an enterprise zone, taxes on non-food items are 3.5% instead of the usual 7%.
free enterprise
Free enterprise is an economic system in which businesses compete for profit without much government control. (BUSINESS) n-uncount
private enterprise
Private enterprise is industry and business which is owned by individual people or commercial companies, and not by the government or an official organization. (BUSINESS) n-uncount
...the government's plans to sell state companies to private enterprise.