opportunity
noun
Simple meaning
A good chance to do something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahpertoonuhteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɑpɚˈtunəti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A chance for advancement, progress or profit.
A favorable circumstance or occasion.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A favorable circumstance or occasion.
Used this way, opportunity is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use opportunity
- “The holiday gave us the opportunity to visit Washington.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Cost in terms of foregoing alternatives.
The right to equivalent opportunities for employment regardless of race or color or sex or national origin.
An occasion that lends itself to (or is deliberately arranged for) taking photographs that provide favorable publicity for those who are photographed.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.