opportunity

English

Etymology

opportune +‎ -ity, from Middle French opportunité, from Latin opportunitas

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɒp.əˈtjuː.nɪ.tɪ/, /ˌɒp.əˈt͡ʃuː.nɪ.ti/
• (General American) enPR: ä'pər-to͞oʹnə-tē, IPA^(key): /ˌɑpɚˈtunəti/
• Hyphenation: op‧por‧tu‧ni‧ty

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

opportunity (countable and uncountable, plural opportunities)

1. A chance for advancement, progress or profit.

   The world is full of opportunities and it's up to me to see them and pursue them.

   • 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.

   Having a holiday is a great opportunity to relax.

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

→

• opportune
• opportunism

• opportunist
• opportunistic

Translations

chance for advancement, progress or profit

• Albanian: mundësi (sq) f, shans m
• Arabic: فُرْصَة‎ f (furṣa)

  Egyptian Arabic: فرصة‎ f (furṣa)

• Armenian: հնարավորություն (hy) (hnaravorutʿyun)
• Asturian: oportunidá f
• Azerbaijani: imkan (az), fürsət (az)
• Bashkir: форсат (forsat)
• Belarusian: магчы́масць f (mahčýmascʹ), шанс m (šans), шанц m (šanc)
• Bulgarian: възмо́жност (bg) f (vǎzmóžnost)
• Burmese: အခွင့်အရေး (my) (a.hkwang.a.re:)
• Catalan: oportunitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機會 (zh), 机会 (zh) (jīhuì)

• Czech: příležitost (cs) f
• Danish: mulighed (da) c
• Dutch: kans (nl) f
• Esperanto: okazo
• Estonian: võimalus
• Finnish: tilaisuus (fi), mahdollisuus (fi)
• French: occasion (fr) f, opportunité (fr) f
• Galician: oportunidade (gl) f, vagar (gl) m
• Georgian: შესაძლებლობა (šesaʒlebloba), შანსი (ka) (šansi)
• German: Gelegenheit (de) f
• Greek: ευκαιρία (el) f (efkairía)

  Ancient: εὐκαιρία f (eukairía), καιρός m (kairós)

• Hebrew: הִזְדַּמְנוּת‎ f (hizdamnut)
• Hindi: अवसर (hi) m (avsar), मौक़ा m (mauqā)
• Hungarian: alkalom (hu)
• Hunsrik: Gelechenheet f, Gelechenheit f
• 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) (ʾaokaah)
• Korean: 기회 (ko) (gihoe) (機會 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: firset (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мүмкүндүк (ky) (mümkündük), мүмкүнчүлүк (ky) (mümkünçülük)

• Lao: ໂອກາດ (’ō kāt)
• Latin: opportūnitās f, ampla f
• Latvian: iespēja f
• Lithuanian: próga f
• Macedonian: можност f (možnost)
• Maltese: opportunità f
• Mongolian: боломж (mn) (bolomž)
• Navajo: ashja
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mulighet (no) m or f

• Occitan: oportunitat f
• Pashto: فرصت‎ (ps) m (fersát)
• 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), möjlighet (sv) c
• Tajik: фурсат (fursat), имконият (tg) (imkoniyat), имкон (imkon)
• Tatar: форсат (tt) (forsat)
• Telugu: అవకాశం (te) (avakāśaṃ)
• Thai: โอกาส (th) (oo-gàat)
• Turkish: fırsat (tr)
• Turkmen: pursat
• Ukrainian: можли́вість f (možlývistʹ), шанс m (šans)
• Urdu: فرصت‎ f (fursat), موقع‎ m (mauqa')
• Uyghur: پۇرسەت‎ (purset)
• Uzbek: imkoniyat (uz), fursat (uz)
• Vietnamese: cơ hội (vi) (機會)
• Zhuang: gihvei

favorable circumstance or occasion

• Asturian: oportunidá f
• Bashkir: форсат (forsat)
• Catalan: oportunitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: příležitost (cs) f, šance (cs) f
• Dutch: gelegenheid (nl) 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)

  Ancient: εὐκαιρία f (eukairía), καιρός m (kairós)

• Latin: opportūnitās f
• Occitan: oportunitat f
• Plautdietsch: Jeläajenheit 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

Further reading

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