opportunity
(ɒpəˈtjuːnɪtɪ)
Also 4–6 opor-, 4 opar-, 6 oppur-, 7 opper-; 4–6 -ite, -yte, (4 -ytee), 6–7 -itie.
[a. F. opportunité (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. opportūnitās, f. opportūn-us opportune: see -ity.]
1. The quality or fact of being opportune; seasonableness, timeliness; opportuneness. Now rare, and chiefly with reference to the L. phrase ‘felix opportunitate mortis’.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xviii, Exercises whiche be nat utterly reproued of noble auctours, if they be used with oportunite and in measure. 1581 Savile Tacitus, Agricola (1622) 202 Thrice happie then maiest thou..be counted, not onely for the renowne of thy life, but..for the opportunitie of thy decease. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. (1851) 434 Thir business is..oft-times urgent; the opportunity of Affairs gain'd or lost in a moment. 1873 Pater Renaissance viii. 167 A death which, for its swiftness and its opportunity, he might well have desired. 1878 Seeley Stein III. 559 How much suffering had been saved them by the opportunity of their deaths. |
2. a. A time, juncture, or condition of things favourable to an end or purpose, or admitting of something being done or effected; occasion, chance.
Orig. without article or pl. = ‘convenience of time’; the individualized notion ‘a convenient time’, with pl., appears in 1560: cf. sense-development of circumstance, conscience.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 523 He..vatit opportunite For to fulfill hys mawite. 1388 Wyclif Matt. xxvi. 16 Fro that tyme he souȝte oportunyte [1382 couenablete] to bitraye hym. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1005 Oportunite when he gatt, He was anker and sole satt. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 271 b, Many goodly oportunities, through disceptation were omitted. Ibid. 310 b, In these eight hondreth yeares past, chaunced never so good an opportunitie. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 268 You haue manie opportunities to cut him off. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 103 That Almighty Majesty who useth to draw..strength out of weaknes, making mans extremity his opportunity. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 10 ¶1, I am not a little pleased with the Opportunity of running over all the Papers. 1736 Butler Anal. i. ii. Wks. 1874 I. 42 The natural course of things affords us opportunities for procuring advantages to ourselves at certain times. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xvii. 511 In national history opportunity is as powerful as purpose. 1890 Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 161 Neuchamp had been sufficiently awake to his opportunities. |
† b. A time when there is occasion or need for something. Obs. rare.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 120 Somtyme he maketh as though he herde vs not, in oportunite and tyme of nede. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ii. ¶2 He also provides..some of these, as he reckons his opportunities may be to use them. |
c. equality of opportunity: equal chance and right to seek success in one's chosen sphere regardless of social factors such as class, race, religion, and sex.
| 1891 Econ. Rev. I. 474 It will possibly, however, be contended that here the ideal is equality of Opportunity. 1920 M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism II. xiv. 295 By ‘equality of opportunity’ Fabian women do not necessarily mean ‘similarity of opportunity’. 1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. II. ix. xli. 754/2 A sufficient measure of social justice, to ensure health, education, and a rough equality of opportunity. 1930 W. K. Hancock Australia ix. 183 Equality of opportunity implies free scope for natural talent, which must create new inequalities; whereas what Australian democracy desires is equality of enjoyment. 1950 G. B. Shaw Farfetched Fables 67 Democratic civilization is impossible, because equality of opportunity is impossible. 1973 R. R. Palmer in P. P. Wiener Dict. Hist. Ideas II. 146/2 The key words are fair competition, equality of opportunity, reward for merit, and careers open to talent. 1976 R. Williams Keywords 102 Equality of opportunity..can be glossed as ‘equal opportunity to become unequal’. |
† 3. Convenience or advantageousness of site or position. In quot. 1730 app. advantage afforded by position. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 284 This is the most famous citie in Moscouia..for the commodious oportunitie of ryuers, multitude of houses [etc.]. 1649 Milton Eikon. viii. Wks. (1851) 390 Hull, a town of great strength and opportunitie both to sea and land affaires. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 22 Flushing..a Town..very considerable for..the opportunity of its Situation and convenience of its Harbour. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 378 The Opportunity they had of its Harbour, incited them..to make it the Staple-Port for Merchandize of the East. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 158 Augustus, who had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared..a capacious harbour. |
† 4. Fitness, aptitude, competency, ‘faculty’. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. iii. 25 (Cambr. MS.) Thow were ryht weleful..with the castete of thi wyf And with the oportunite and noblesse of thi masculyn chyldren. 1535 Coverdale Eccl. ii. 20 For so moch as a man shulde weery himself with wysedome, with understondinge and oppurtunite, and yet be fayne to leave his labours vnto another. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 341 Although the swiftness or other opportunity of the Dogs helpeth them to flie away from her, yet if she can but cast her shadow upon them, she easily obtaineth her prey. |
† 5. Fitness of things, need. Obs. rare.
(Its use here is app. due to association with L. oportet.)
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 435 That man is a cowarde that wille not dye when oportunite requirethe hit [Higden, quando oportet; Trevisa, whannse it nedeth]. |
¶ 6. erron. = importunity 4. Obs.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 20 Yet seeke my Fathers loue, still seeke it sir, If opportunity and humblest suite Cannot attaine it, why then harke you hither. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Vandal Wars ii. 50 John the son of Sisinniolus, at the Africans opportunity, raised Forces and went against them. a 1667 Jer. Taylor (W.), He that entreats us to be happy, with an opportunity so passionate, as if not we, but himself, were to receive the favor. |
7. Phr. opportunity knocks (but once): an opportunity presents itself (but once).
| 1942 Wodehouse Money in Bank (1946) xv. 134 Opportunity knocks but once, and he had allowed it to knock in vain. 1946 Calif. Folklore Q. July 241 A number of sayings surely not peculiar to Oregon; rather, trite and obvious, but still effective:..Opportunity knocks but once. 1970 Computers & Humanities V. 16 From the earliest English settlements to the closing of the frontier and the advent of industrialism, opportunity knocked for young men of high and low social status at fairly regular alternate intervals. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 29/4 (Advt.), Opportunity knocks for a fluently bilingual representative over 25 with a B.Sc. 1972 Accountant 21 Sept. p. xvii/1 (Advt.), Opportunity knocks for an experienced qualified man. |
8. attrib. and Comb. opportunity cost Econ. (see quots.); opportunity state, a country which offers many opportunities for advancement.
| 1911 H. J. Davenport in Amer. Econ. Rev. Dec. 725 These displacements of possible products, these foregoings of alternative openings, these sacrifices of some second thing in the process of getting some particular thing, are perhaps best indicated under the term opportunity cost. To go without fish to get game..may be taken as illustrative of one of the simplest aspects of the doctrine. 1926 L. D. Edie Econ. iii. viii. 121 The opportunity cost is the sacrifice of foregoing some alternative utility. 1936 Ault & Eberling Princ. & Probl. Econ. xiii. 217 Opportunity or alternative costs play a very important part in determining the nature and direction of industrial development... The principle of opportunity cost is effective in bringing about great changes in the field of production. 1951 J. R. Winton Dict. Econ. Terms (ed. 3) 63 Opportunity cost. In economic life, decisions are constantly being made which involve a choice between alternatives... One particular alternative must be chosen,..the ‘opportunity-cost’ of which is represented by the alternatives foregone. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 143/2 The determination of implicit cost, as well as other managerial decisions, must be based on the concept of alternative or opportunity costs, which measures cost in terms of alternatives or opportunities that are foregone. 1965 Seldon & Pennance Everyman's Dict. Econ. 312 To answer the question, ‘Should good agricultural land be built over?’ requires a comparison of the opportunity costs for society of the various alternatives. 1971 D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. (rev. ed.) ii. v. 121 A very useful concept is that of ‘opportunity cost’... If the businessman would have invested the money at 10 per cent interest, had he not put it into the business, then the ‘opportunity cost’ of investing in his own business is the 10 per cent interest he has foregone. 1974 Guardian 27 Aug. 14/7 Couples in the United States..are well aware of the opportunity cost of having children. |
| 1957 Opportunity state [see contract v. 2 d]. 1958 Listener 26 June 1068/3 The mental distance between himself and his appalling younger daughters, products of the opportunity state, is brilliantly suggested. |