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
While the Patriots offense has been opportunistic in the playoffs, the defense has been dominant.
—
Boston Herald Staff, Boston Herald, 8 Feb. 2026
Pruning cuts heal slowly during dormancy and invite opportunistic disease and pests.
—Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 31 Jan. 2026
The evidence of this rally seems to consist of a combination of opportunistic institutional buying and retail investors chasing headlines, although the prevailing institutional sentiment remains cautious.
—Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
What’s more, some people in China were taking shots at Gu, framing her as an opportunistic outsider.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for opportunistic
Boston Herald Staff, Boston Herald, 8 Feb. 2026
Pruning cuts heal slowly during dormancy and invite opportunistic disease and pests.
—Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 31 Jan. 2026
The evidence of this rally seems to consist of a combination of opportunistic institutional buying and retail investors chasing headlines, although the prevailing institutional sentiment remains cautious.
—Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
What’s more, some people in China were taking shots at Gu, framing her as an opportunistic outsider.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for opportunistic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for opportunistic
Adjective
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In the meantime, an unstable government could become more rather than less aggressive, not least to keep younger hard-liners from rebelling.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Feb. 2026
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Wiener helped push two new California laws last year — the No Secret Police Act and the No Vigilantes Act — in the wake of intense and aggressive immigration enforcement by masked ICE and other federal agents in California and around the country.—
Kevin Rector,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The cases placed a spotlight on homeschooling, but some advocates said that homeschool parents are largely highly diligent about educating their children and should not be penalized for the other cases.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
8 Feb. 2026
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The diligent work of our law enforcement partners time and again uncovers those attempting to hide behind a computer screen.—
Doug Myers,
CBS News,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Three teenagers have been indicted in the the fatal shooting of an aspiring TikTok influencer near a Jersey Shore boardwalk over the summer, officials announced.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
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Professional and aspiring writers have opportunities for recognition, publication and financial awards from competitions produced by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park.—
Myrna Petlicki,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Today brings preliminary matches for women’s ice hockey, qualification runs for men’s big-air snowboarding, and, of course, more curling, which is the only sport industrious enough to have events every day through the Olympics.—
The Editors,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
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Add Giannis Antetokounmpo, and then having a group of hard-working, persistent, industrious players that succeed in the shadows is fine.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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In the early years of fantasy football, the most enterprising commissioners would produce write-ups, type them up and mail them out.—
Eddie Brown,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Jan. 2026
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These were private bankers who wanted to bring their talents and their client relationships somewhere more enterprising.—
Josh Brown,Sean Russo,
CNBC,
15 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The team aimed to recreate this kind of dynamic control in a soft, synthetic material using digital design rather than complex biological systems.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Feb. 2026
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The dynamic looks slightly different for photographer Swapnil Junjare.—
Nikita Khanna,
Vogue,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Opportunistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/opportunistic. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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