opportunity

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɒpəˈtjuːnɪtɪ/, /-ˈt͡ʃuː-/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: ä'pər-to͞oʹnə-tē, IPA^(key): /ˌɑpɚˈt(j)unəti/, [-ɾi]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: op‧por‧tun‧i‧ty

Noun

opportunity (countable and uncountable, plural opportunities)

1. A chance for advancement, progress or profit.

   seize the opportunity

   take an opportunity

   missed opportunity

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

   the opportunity came and went

   You'll get a second opportunity if you miss this one.

   • 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

• business opportunity
• equal opportunity
• equal-opportunity
• golden opportunity
• golden opportunity
• ladder of opportunity
• Land of Opportunity
• land of opportunity
• opportunity class
• opportunity cost
• opportunity knocks
• opportunity knocks at every man's door
• opportunity makes a thief
• opportunity room
• opportunity seldom knocks twice
• opportunity servicing
• opportunity shop
• opportunity window
• photo opportunity
• target of opportunity
• universal opportunity
• when opportunity knocks
• window of opportunity
• window of opportunity

 

Related terms

• opportune
• opportunism
• opportunist
• opportunistic

Translations

chance for advancement, progress or profit

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

  Egyptian Arabic: فرصة f (furṣa)

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

  Cantonese: 機會／机会 (gei¹ wui⁶)

  Hokkien: 機會／机会 (zh-min-nan) (ki-hōe)

  Mandarin: 機會／机会 (zh) (jīhuì)

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

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

• Hebrew: הִזְדַּמְנוּת (he) f (hizdamnut)
• Hindi: अवसर (hi) m (avsar), मौक़ा m (mauqā)
• Hungarian: alkalom (hu), lehetőség (hu)
• Hunsrik: Gelechenheet f, Gelechenheit f
• Icelandic: færi n
• Irish: faill f, deis (ga) f
• Italian: occasione (it) f, opportunità (it) f, possibilità (it) f, chance (it) f
• Japanese: 機会 (ja) (きかい, kikai), チャンス (ja) (chansu)
• Kabuverdianu: txansa, xanse
• Kazakh: мүмкіндік (mümkındık)
• Khmer: ឱកាស (km) (ʼaokaah)
• Korean: 기회(機會) (ko) (gihoe), 찬스 (ko) (chanseu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: firset (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мүмкүндүк (ky) (mümkündük), мүмкүнчүлүк (ky) (mümküncülük)
• Lao: ໂອກາດ (ʼō kāt)
• Latin: opportūnitās f, ampla f
• Latvian: iespēja f
• Lithuanian: próga f
• Macedonian: можност f (možnost), шанса (mk) f (šansa)
• Malayalam: അവസരം (ml) (avasaraṁ), തക്കം (ml) (takkaṁ)
• Maltese: opportunità f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: боломж (mn) (bolomž)

• Navajo: ashja
• Northern Sami: vejolašvuohta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mulighet (no) m or f, sjanse (no) f

• Occitan: oportunitat (oc) f
• Pashto: فرصت (ps) m (fersát)
• Persian: فرصت (fa) (forsat), شانس (fa) (šâns)
• Polish: gratka f, możliwość (pl) f, okazja (pl) f, pretekst (pl) m, sposobność (pl) f, szansa (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: могу́ћно̄ст f, при́лика f, при̏года f, ша̏нса f

  Roman: mogúćnōst f, prílika (sh) f, prȉgoda (sh) f, šȁnsa (sh) f

• Slovak: príležitosť f, šanca f
• Slovene: priložnost (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: góźba 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) (avakāśaṁ)
• 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)
• Bengali: মওকা (bn) (moōka)
• Bulgarian: удо́бен случа́й m (udóben slučáj)
• Catalan: oportunitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機會／机会 (zh) (jīhuì)

• Czech: příležitost (cs) f, šance (cs) f
• Danish: mulighed (da) c
• 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)

• Hungarian: alkalom (hu)
• Italian: opportunità (it) f, occasione (it) f
• Kabuverdianu: txansa, xanse
• Latin: opportūnitās f
• Occitan: oportunitat (oc) f
• Plautdietsch: Jeläajenheit f
• Polish: gratka f, możliwość (pl) f, okazja (pl) f, pretekst (pl) m, sposobność (pl) f, szansa (pl) f
• Portuguese: oportunidade (pt) f
• Russian: удо́бный слу́чай m (udóbnyj slúčaj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: при́лика f, при̏года f

  Roman: prílika (sh) f, prȉgoda (sh) f

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: góźba f

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

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} فرصت (fa) (forsat)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} oportunitate (ro) f

Further reading

• “opportunity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “opportunity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.