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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
opportunism
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
political
▪ That sums up the cynical hypocrisy and political opportunism of Labour.
▪ But he was still at an experimental stage of his thinking, and this enabled his political opportunism to come into play.
▪ Endara criticized Arias's decision as political opportunism, claiming that he intended preparing his candidature for the 1994 presidential elections.
▪ Beneath this surface of high principle swirls an undercurrent of political opportunism.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ To her opponents, Goodright's support for minority rights looked like political opportunism.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And, although opportunism has often got the better of his instincts, he has tended towards social tolerance.
▪ But he was still at an experimental stage of his thinking, and this enabled his political opportunism to come into play.
▪ Divorced from the program of revolutionary Marxism, cadres immersed in the mass movement eventually succumb to opportunism.
▪ Endara criticized Arias's decision as political opportunism, claiming that he intended preparing his candidature for the 1994 presidential elections.
▪ In general, opportunism rather than predetermination is the key.
▪ The Republicans, still angered by the Bridgeport opportunism that cheated them of a seat, made Daley suffer for it.
▪ There was certainly more to it than mere opportunism.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Opportunism

Opportunism \Op`por*tun"ism\, n. [Cf. F. opportunisme.] The art or practice of taking advantage of opportunities or circumstances, or of seeking immediate advantage with little regard for ultimate consequences. [Recent]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
opportunism

"policy of adopting actions to circumstances while holding goals unchanged," 1870, from opportune + -ism. Compare opportunist.

Wiktionary
opportunism

n. The practice of taking advantage of any situations or people to achieve an end, often with no regard for principles or consequences.

WordNet
opportunism

n. taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others [syn: self-interest, self-seeking, expedience]

Wikipedia
Opportunism

Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking advantage of circumstances – with little regard for principles, or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individual humans and living organisms, groups, organizations, styles, behaviours, and trends.

Opportunism or "opportunistic behavior" is an important concept in such fields of study as biology, transaction cost economics, game theory, ethics, psychology, sociology and politics.

Usage examples of "opportunism".

Conscious that his treachery looked like opportunism, he could not concentrate on his prayer.

From its inception, the space program often seems to have been equal parts Barnum razzmatazz and Me Decade opportunism.

The polls indicated that many Coloradans took a dim view of this, seeing it as naked opportunism.

It is our task now to sum up the practical revolutionary experience of the working class, to cleanse the movement of its admixtures of opportunism and social patriotism, and to gather together the forces of all the true revolutionary proletarian parties in order to further and hasten the complete victory of the Communist revolution.

But even if Rathbone could somehow perform a miracle and gain an acquittal of murder for Dalgarno, was there anything on earth he could do to show him innocent of duplicity and opportunism?

McGovern described the president personally as a 'blob out there' of no constant principle except opportunism and political manipulation, a man 'up to his ears in political sabotage' who was 'afraid of the people' and regularly favored the 'powerful and greedy' over the public interest.

And, now that she understood his motivation, she marveled at his quick-witted opportunism.