opportunist
Americannoun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of opportunist
First recorded in 1865–70; opportun(ism) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )
Explanation
Opportunists are people who see a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals. An opportunist seizes every opportunity to improve things for himself. Say you won millions in the lottery. People would come out of the woodwork hoping to get their hands on some of it. These people act as if they are close friends. But they are not; they are opportunists. Famous opportunists include “carpetbaggers,” Northern opportunists who, after the American Civil War, poured into the South to turn Reconstruction into personal financial gains.
Vocabulary lists containing opportunist
100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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The Underground Railroad
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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.
Regardless of how you showed up, you were a brilliant antagonist for a morally flexible opportunist.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
Musk's lawyers seized on the entries to portray Brockman as a calculating opportunist.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
He’s the Parliament speaker, former mayor, police chief and Revolutionary Guard commander, and consummate opportunist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
In “Werckmeister Harmonies,” another opportunist visits another desperate town, this time accompanying a traveling exhibit of a preserved whale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026
Miraculously, Oskar Schindler, this complex man of many contradictions—Nazi opportunist, schemer, courageous maverick, rescuer, hero—had saved nearly 1,200 Jews from almost certain death.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
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.
