opportunity

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French opportunité, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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

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) (hnaravorutʻyun)
• 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／机会 (zh) (jīhuì), 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
• 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) (mümkındık)
• Khmer: ឱកាស (km) (ʼaokaah)
• Korean: 기회 (ko) (gihoe) (機會 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

• Kyrgyz: мүмкүндүк (ky) (mümkündük), мүмкүнчүлүк (ky) (mümküncülük)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ໂອກາດ (ʼō 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) (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)
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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. 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “opportunity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.