opportunity

English

Etymology

From Middle French opportunité, from Latin opportunitas

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɒp.əˈtjuː.nɪ.ti/
• (US) enPR: ä'pər-to͞oʹnə-tē, IPA^(key): /ˌɑpɚˈtunəti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

opportunity (plural opportunities)

1. A chance for advancement, progress or profit.

   Having a holiday is a great opportunity to relax.

   I wanted to become a professional, but because of my financial situation there were no opportunities.

   • 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport^[1]:

     Chelsea also struggled to keep possession as QPR harried and chased at every opportunity, giving their opponents no time on the ball.

2. A favorable circumstance or occasion.
3. (nonstandard, Euro-English) opportuneness

   The Court questioned the opportunity of introducing these measures in such an uncertain economic climate.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• business opportunity
• equal opportunity
• Land of Opportunity
• opportunity cost

• photo opportunity
• when opportunity knocks
• the ladder of opportunity

Related terms

Related terms

• opportune
• opportunism

• opportunist
• opportunistic

Translations

chance for advancement, progress or profit

• Arabic: فُرْصَة‏‎ f (furṣa)
• Armenian: հնարավորություն (hy) (hnaravorutʿyun)
• Asturian: oportunidá f
• Azeri: imkan (az)
• Bashkir: форсат (forsat)
• Belarusian: магчы́масць f (mahčýmascʹ), шанс m (šans), шанц m (šanc)
• Bulgarian: възмо́жност (bg) f (vǎzmóžnost)
• Catalan: oportunitat f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機會 (zh), 机会 (zh) (jīhuì)

• Czech: příležitost (cs) f
• Dutch: kans (nl) f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: võimalus
• Finnish: tilaisuus (fi), mahdollisuus (fi)
• French: occasion (fr) f, opportunité (fr) f
• Galician: oportunidade (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Gelegenheit (de) f
• Greek: ευκαιρία (el) f (efkairía)

  Ancient: εὐκαιρία f (eukairía)

• Hungarian: alkalom (hu)
• Irish: faill f, deis (ga) f
• Italian: occasione (it) f, opportunità (it)
• Japanese: 機会 (ja) (きかい, kikai)
• Kazakh: мүмкіндік (kk) (mümkindik)
• Khmer: ឱកាស (km) (aokaah)
• Korean: 기회 (ko) (gihoe) (機會 (ko))

• Latin: opportunitas f
• Latvian: iespēja f
• Lithuanian: próga f
• Macedonian: можност f (možnost)
• Maltese: opportunità f
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: oportunitat f
• Persian: فرصت‏‎ (fa) (forsat)
• Polish: możliwość (pl) f, okazja (pl) f, sposobność (pl) f
• Portuguese: oportunidade (pt) f
• Romanian: oportunitate (ro) f
• Romansch: pussaivladad f (Rumantsch Grischun)
• Russian: возмо́жность (ru) f (vozmóžnostʹ), шанс (ru) m (šans)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прилика f, пригода f

  Roman: prilika (sh) f, prigoda (sh) f

• Slovak: príležitosť f
• Slovene: priložnost (sl) f
• Spanish: oportunidad (es) f
• Swahili: fursa (sw)
• Swedish: tillfälle (sv)
• Tajik: фурсат (fursat)
• Telugu: అవకాశం (te) (avakāśaṃ)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: fırsat (tr)
• Ukrainian: можли́вість f (možlývistʹ), шанс m (šans)
• Uzbek: imkoniyat (uz)
• Vietnamese: cơ hội (vi) (機會)

favorable circumstance or occasion

• Asturian: oportunidá f
• Bashkir: форсат (forsat)
• Catalan: oportunitat f
• Czech: příležitost (cs) f, šance (cs) f
• Finnish: tilaisuus (fi)
• French: occasion favorable f, opportunité (fr) f (anglicism)
• Galician: oportunidade (gl) f
• German: Gelegenheit (de) f
• Greek: ευκαιρία (el) f (efkairía)

• Latin: opportunitas f
• Occitan: oportunitat f
• Portuguese: oportunidade (pt) f
• Russian: удо́бный слу́чай m (udóbnyj slúčaj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: prilika (sh) f, prigoda (sh) f

• Spanish: oportunidad (es) f
• Swahili: fursa (sw), nafasi (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} kans (nl) f, ^{(please verify)} mogelijkheid (nl) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} chance (fr) f
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kesempatan (id)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} opportunità (it) f

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} mulighet (no) f, ^{(please verify)} sjanse (no) f
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} فرصت‏‎ (fa) (forsat)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} oportunitate (ro) f

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: begin · wait · laughed · #791: opportunity · lines · personal · due

Further reading

• opportunity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• opportunity in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911