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You may well have wondered what an opportunist is when following discussions in politics and business. In everyday language, however, the term primarily describes a negative character trait.
What is an opportunist? Everyday language, business and biology
What an opportunist is depends on the context in which the word is used. Most commonly, however, it is used in everyday language or in formal speech.
- The origin of the word ‘opportun’ is derived from Latin. The adjective opportunus means favourable, convenient or suitable. The word presumably originated from the root portus (harbour), to describe a particularly favourable harbour location.
- In colloquial language, an ‘opportunist’ is someone who quickly adapts to a given situation in order to profit from it. However, the opportunist has no regard for values that go beyond their own gain or success.
- To describe someone as an opportunist therefore implies that the person acts without moral or ethical principles and is concerned solely with their own benefit.
- Political and economic strategies can be opportunistic. The focus is on profit at any or almost any cost.
- The term ‘opportunist’ is also used in biology. It refers to species that can adapt to different environmental conditions. Humans, for example, are an opportunistic species. The opposite of this are specialists.
