Opportunism

Synonyms for "opportunism" (19 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (4)

Strong matches (6)

Related words (9)

Noun(3 words)
profit maximizationprofiteeringself-seeking

Choosing the right synonym

  • Closest matches in this entry: self-interest, careerism, carpetbagging, chance, expedience.
  • Sentence evidence is available for opportunism, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
  • Ranking signals come from wordnet, opengloss, derived_reverse.

Synonym selection checklist

  • Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
  • Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
  • Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "opportunism".
  • Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.

When not to replace "opportunism"

Keep "opportunism" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.

If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.

Replacement workflow

1. Preserve meaning

Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "opportunism" intact in the sentence you are editing.

2. Tune tone

Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.

3. Re-read context

Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.

Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.

Final fit check

After choosing a replacement for "opportunism", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.

If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "opportunism" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

5 relation types

More general

7 entries
behaviorconducteconomic behaviororganizational behaviorpolitical behaviorpracticeselfishness

More specific

8 entries
coalition opportunismeconomic opportunismelectoral opportunismmarket opportunismorganizational opportunismpolicy opportunismpolitical opportunismtechnological opportunism

Collocations

6 entries
economic opportunismmarket opportunismmoral opportunismopportunistic behavioropportunistic stancepolitical opportunism

Inflections

1 entries

Derivations

3 entries

Sample sentences

4 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

That's opportunism, pure and simple.

Source: tatoeba (42751)

As far as I understand despite my limited knowledge, here in Venezuela we must adapt to the prevailing mentality and social order. Therefore, an individual must live among opportunism, poverty, manipulation and superficiality. It might be a very characteristic Latino idiosyncrasy to behave as in the book "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel García Márquez when it comes to dealing with delicate situations. Everybody knows what's happening, but nobody raises his voice and even if somebody did, nobody would support him. Only enlightenment through education could end the ignorance that is a scourge on our people, from which many other problems arise. However, it's unlikely to expect a government to propose to spread values that threaten its own interests, because it's better for them to keep society ignorant in order to manipulate it with ease.

Source: tatoeba (3518355)

But Cicero does not seem even to have had a religious sentiment to cover the nakedness of his political opportunism. Not only does he in the Tusculan Disputations put aside in the Platonic fashion all the Homeric tales which anthropomorphize and discredit the gods; but in his treatise On Divination he shows an absolute disbelief in all the recognized practices, including the augury which he himself officially practised; and his sole excuse is that they are to be retained “on account of popular opinion and of their great public utility.”

Source: tatoeba (12115362)

Opportunism today, as represented by its principal spokesman, the ex-Marxist Karl Kautsky, fits in completely with Marx's characterization of the bourgeois position quoted above, for this opportunism limits recognition of the class struggle to the sphere of bourgeois relations. (Within this sphere, within its framework, not a single educated liberal will refuse to recognize the class struggle "in principle"!) Opportunism does not extend recognition of the class struggle to the cardinal point, to the period of transition from capitalism to communism, of the overthrow and the complete abolition of the bourgeoisie. In reality, this period inevitably is a period of an unprecedently violent class struggle in unprecedentedly acute forms, and, consequently, during this period the state must inevitably be a state that is democratic in a new way (for the proletariat and the propertyless in general) and dictatorial in a new way (against the bourgeoisie).

Source: wiktionary

Common questions

What are the closest synonyms for "opportunism"?

Closest matches include self-interest, careerism, carpetbagging, chance, expedience.

How should I check whether a synonym fits "opportunism"?

Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.

More for "opportunism"