opportunist | Common Errors in English Usage and More (2024)

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Meaning of opportunist in English

someone who tries to get power or an advantage in every situation: He was portrayed as a ruthless opportunist who exploited the publicity at every opportunity.

Examples from Collins dictionaries

Like most successful politicians, Sinclair was an opportunist. Car thieves are opportunists. He made the game safe with a brilliant opportunist goal.

When applied to people, the label “opportunist” usually has negative connotations. It implies that the people so labeled take unprincipled, unfair advantage of opportunities for selfish ends. Opportunistic people are often also regarded as exploitative.

Wrong word order.

It is one of the common grammar mistakes in English made by non-native speakers. Word order is important in English. The basic word order for a sentence is subject + verb + object, as in "I see the dog." If you change the word order, it can change the meaning of the sentence.

One is an opportunist: He boards possibility after possibility but jumps ship when the business gets tough or when another possibility appears to offer brighter prospects. The other is opportunistic: He stays the basic course while capitalizing on ways to improve his products and service.

Opportunistic Behavior

It is mainly manifested in two aspects: concealing information and failing to fulfill commitments. Its main purpose is to seek its own interests and act based on self-interest.

The opportunist: Opportunists are always looking for what they can get out of the relationship. They'll be around when they need something from you, but they'll disappear when you need help or support. The flatterer: Flatterers shower you with compliments and praise, but their intentions are not genuine.

For example, some economic actors will take advantage of another party to advance their own interests by making false promises, misrepresenting intentions, reneging on agreements, or changing the terms of a deal to benefit themselves.

Is opportunist a positive word? ›

Opportunism is a negatively connoted word. Opportunists pursue the biggest payoff without regard for higher moral principles. Opportunism is a trait of an amoral person.

type of: selfish person. a person who is unusually selfish. adjective. taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circ*mstance of possible benefit. synonyms: opportunistic, timeserving expedient.

Although in many societies opportunism often has a strong negative moral connotation, it may also be defined more neutrally as putting self-interest before other interests when there is an opportunity to do so, or flexibly adapting to changing circ*mstances to maximize self-interest (though usually in a way that ...

one who does things only for his own benefit and with little regard for right and wrong an opportunist who makes friends and then drops them as soon as they aren't useful anymore.

Being opportunist is nothing wrong. But the path you take to get that opportunity creates your image. If you bend the rules and ignore your conscience, you may be labelled as bad because anything obtained through illegitimate ways doesn't last long, nor does it fetch any satisfaction.

One common mistake many students make is the use of incomplete sentences. Each sentence in English must contain at least a subject and a verb, and should be an independent clause. Examples of incomplete sentences without a subject or a verb might include an instruction or a prepositional phrase.

Common grammar mistakes related to word order include: Reversing the subject and verb: Gave Susan a speech this morning(incorrect). Susan gave a speech this morning (correct). Reversing place and time: I drove this morning to work (incorrect).

One common mistake is forgetting to use an article before a noun. This can lead to sentences that sound incomplete or nonsensical. For example, saying “I have car” instead of “I have a car” or “I have the car” can confuse the listener and make your message unclear. Another common mistake is using the wrong article.