ope
Americanadjective
verb
Usage
What does ope mean? In casual usage, ope is an interjection used to express surprise or to alert someone, as in Ope, didn’t mean to bump into you!The word ope is considered a Midwestern slang term that’s closely related to oops or whoops. Spill some coffee on your shirt? Ope! You’re going to have to change shirts. Drop something while you’re cooking? Ope! Can’t eat that. Bump into someone on the subway? Ope! My bad! Even though ope is known as Midwestern slang, usage has spread to other parts of the country as well. Ope is also an archaic word meaning “open” and was especially used in poetry and other literature. For example, it appears in William Shakespeare’s play The Life and Death of King John. In Act II, a citizen says to King John, “The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope, / And give you entrance.” Today, this use of ope is rare. Example: Ope, let me scooch right by ya real quick!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The ope has officially declared a new enemy.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2013
But some traditional Catholics said they were trying to go with the flow and trust the Holy Spirit that they believe guided the cardinals’ selection of the new ope.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2013
His lips did ope, but no sound came.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
If chance yet ope to me Some path, if even now my hand can win Strength to requite this Jason for his sin, Betray me not!
From Medea of Euripedes by Euripedes
No more that other Aurora shall sett ope Her ruby casements, or hereafter hope70 From mortall eyes To meet religious welcomes at her rise.
From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I (of 2) by Richard Crashaw
The billionaire investor, who worked with the treasury secretary at Soros Fund Management, voiced his disapproval of Bessent’s tactics in a strongly-worded oped published in the Wall Street Journal Monday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
In 2018, Amazon projected that it would lose $5 on average per Alexa device sold, and that by 2028 it oped this would be $2-per-unit profit.
From The Verge ● Dec. 23, 2021
“Whoever keeps watch on @realDonaldTrump at WH have the economist there especially Navarro read WSJ oped by Henninger,” Mr. Grassley tweeted, apparently referencing White House trade adviser Peter Navarro.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 2, 2020
He is often quoted in others’ writings--for example, an oped in The New York Times this week.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 12, 2017
Not I, sweet soul, not I. 154 The dewy eyelids of the Dawn Ne’er oped such heaven as hers can show: It seemed her dear eyes might have shone As jewels in some starry brow.
From Victorian Songs Lyrics of the Affections and Nature by Edmund Henry Garrett
“I am oping to get a job ’ere, to improve my Eenglish.”
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
And I, oping the door—to see if it rained, trow!—found these birds a-lying there.
From The White Rose of Langley A Story of the Olden Time by Emily Sarah Holt
Gathers slow a vapour o'er thee From the ocean-depths before thee: Lo! the vision all hath vanished, Thou art left alone and banished; Shut the door, thou findest, groping, Without chance of further oping.
From A Hidden Life and Other Poems by George MacDonald
Wide your eyelids you were oping and your look was far from hence With a passionate wild hoping that was soulful and intense.
From Successful Recitations by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
