as in aggressive
attentive to and ready to act on opportunities for personal gain or advancement
The opportunistic salesperson was always on the lookout for potential new customers.
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Recent Examples of opportunistic
Cognitive flexibility, opportunistic survival, and social cooperation have allowed rats to thrive in conditions that wipe out other species.
—
Jason Bittel, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Despite standing at 6-foot-2 and playing a game more suited for a forward six inches taller, Payton entered Friday night having made 16 consecutive field goals, the vast majority of them being opportunistic dunks and layups off smart cuts and putbacks.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
Bald eagles are opportunistic foragers but prefer fish as their primary food and are found in great densities where fish are abundant.
—Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 26 Mar. 2026
In the end, Carr’s efforts at the FCC stand to turn laws meant to protect free speech into opportunistic muzzles, leaving network TV smothered by a conversation its leadership spent too long avoiding.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for opportunistic
Jason Bittel, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Despite standing at 6-foot-2 and playing a game more suited for a forward six inches taller, Payton entered Friday night having made 16 consecutive field goals, the vast majority of them being opportunistic dunks and layups off smart cuts and putbacks.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
Bald eagles are opportunistic foragers but prefer fish as their primary food and are found in great densities where fish are abundant.
—Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 26 Mar. 2026
In the end, Carr’s efforts at the FCC stand to turn laws meant to protect free speech into opportunistic muzzles, leaving network TV smothered by a conversation its leadership spent too long avoiding.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for opportunistic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for opportunistic
Adjective
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Brvenik, 44, was diagnosed in 2024 with leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.—
Max Klaver,
Miami Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
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Your sense of self takes the lead as the Moon, presently in your sign, opposes aggressive Mars across your partnership zone.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Some reviewers are unhappy with slow results — but Hers products are most effective when used consistently for a minimum of three months, and there’s no way of knowing how diligent these reviewers were.—
Rebecca Strong,
USA Today,
25 Mar. 2026
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Herzog depicts the bushmen who aid Boyes as dignified, diligent and intelligent without romanticizing them while capturing the rugged beauty of the African landscape.—
Stuart Miller,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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This one follows an aspiring bull-rider, but the prose is a little left-of-center for the Bard As any Dylanologist could tell you.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
31 Mar. 2026
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An aspiring writer as a teenager, Burden turned her focus to law in college, earning a degree in Juvenile and Immigration Law from New York University.—
Marc Weingarten,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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As an industrious and self-reliant senior, Ringwald essentially baby-sits her chronically myopic father (Harry Dean Stanton), sews her own clothes and contends with the condescension of her patrician peers.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Mar. 2026
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But what do real beaver experts actually do to study these industrious creatures?—
Brianne Kane,
Scientific American,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Our enterprising Gravedigger, a true woman of science, engineers a lizard elixir and regenerates the finger into a long tentacle that eventually demands a body.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Mar. 2026
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This was little more than a wooden shack beside a convenience store and a karaoke parlor, all of them run by an enterprising resident who had already buried 200 people in the 12 months since Duterte had taken office, nearly all of them drug suspects.—
Sheila Coronel,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The dynamic stage production, directed by Phillip M Church, features Justine Chichester, Shawn Buller and Laquantis Morton who deliver—verbatim—Taussig’s inspiring and evocative voice.—
Christina Mayo,
Miami Herald,
2 Apr. 2026
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Bringing all these together to shape the future of denim in a meaningful way is incredibly motivating, especially with the strength of our dynamic and experienced team.—
Angela Velasquez,
Footwear News,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Opportunistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/opportunistic. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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