opportunist

See also: Opportunist

English

Etymology

From French opportuniste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɒpə(ɹ)ˈtjuːnɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

opportunist (plural opportunists)

1. Someone who takes advantage of any opportunity to advance their own situation, placing expediency above principle.
   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     James Milner's angled free-kick was headed on to the post by the tireless Bent and Lampard the opportunist was perfectly placed to stoop and head in from virtually on the goal-line.

Synonyms

• chancer

Related terms

• opportune
• opportunism
• opportunistic
• opportunity

Translations

someone who takes advantage of any opportunity

• Armenian: օպորտունիստ (hy) (ōportunist), պատեհապաշտ (hy) (patehapašt)
• Asturian: oportunista m or f
• Azerbaijani: fürsətçi
• Belarusian: апартуні́ст m (apartuníst), апартуні́стка f (apartunístka)
• Catalan: oportunista m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變色龍／变色龙 (zh) (biànsèlóng)

• Czech: oportunista m
• Danish: opportunist (da) c
• Dutch: opportunist (nl) m, opportuniste f
• Esperanto: oportunisto
• Estonian: oportunist
• Finnish: opportunisti (fi)
• French: opportuniste (fr)
• Galician: oportunista m or f, comenenciudo
• German: Opportunist (de) m, Opportunistin f, Wendehals (de) m
• Irish: brabúsaí m
• Italian: approfittatore (it) m, opportunista (it) m or f
• Japanese: 日和見主義者 (hiyorimi shugisha), 蝙蝠 (ja) (kōmori), カメレオン (ja) (kamereon)
• Korean: 기회주의자 (ko) (gihoejuuija)
• Latvian: oportūnists m, oportūniste f
• Norwegian: opportunist (no) m
• Persian: فرصت طلب (fa) (forsat-talab), اپورتونیست (fa) (oportunist)
• Polish: oportunista (pl) m, oportunistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: oportunista (pt) m or f, chupim (pt) m
• Russian: оппортуни́ст (ru) m (opportuníst), оппортуни́стка (ru) f (opportunístka), приспособле́нец (ru) m (prisposoblénec), приспособле́нка (ru) f (prisposoblénka)
• Serbo-Croatian: oportunist (sh)
• Spanish: oportunista (es) m, (Puerto Rico) vela güira f, aprovechado (es) m, aprovechón m, ventajista m or f, ventajoso (es) m (Mexico), ventajero m (Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic), encajoso m (Mexico), pancista (es) m or f (colloquial)
• Swedish: opportunist (sv) c
• Tagalog: mapanamantala
• Turkish: fırsatçı (tr)
• Ukrainian: опортуні́ст m (oportuníst), опортуні́стка f (oportunístka), пристосо́ванець m (prystosóvanecʹ), пристосо́ванка f (prystosóvanka)

Further reading

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