opportunist

noun

op·​por·​tun·​ist ˌä-pər-ˈtü-nist 

-ˈtyü-

: one that is opportunistic or that practices opportunism

a slick, shady, amoral opportunist who has only one desire: to get through life without a day of labor

—Allan Ulrich

Most burglars are opportunists.

opportunist adjective

Synonyms

• acrobat
• chameleon
• chancer [British]
• temporizer
• timeserver
• trimmer
• weathercock

Examples of opportunist in a Sentence

a political opportunist who changed his health-care plan to win the election

ever the opportunist, she immediately set about becoming the incoming administrator's new best friend

Recent Examples on the Web

Rhee noted that such privileges have fed into less favorable views of Korean Americans as spoiled opportunists — fair-weather Koreans who had left the country when things were tough only to return now that the going is good. —Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024

What’s new, though, is his whole narrative, a multipart boardroom saga from the perspective of a developer who was repeatedly cast as a rapacious opportunist. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2024

Whereas Vance, with his previous flip-flops on Trump, comes across as an opportunist, Kelly’s reasons for getting into politics could hardly be more compelling. —Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, 23 July 2024

In clinical conditions such as hospitals, these opportunist pathogens can be life-threatening. —Laurie Winkless, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

opportun(ism) + -ist entry 1, probably after French opportuniste

First Known Use

1873, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

opportunist

noun

op·​por·​tun·​ist -ˈt(y)ü-nəst 

: one that is opportunistic or that practices opportunism

opportunist adjective

Medical Definition

opportunist

noun

op·​por·​tun·​ist ˌäp-ər-ˈt(y)ü-nəst 

: an opportunistic microorganism