- opportunity
- opportunity, occasion, chance, break, time are comparable when they mean a state of affairs or a combination of circumstances favorable to some end.Opportunity is perhaps the most common of these terms; it applies to a situation which provides an opening for doing something, especially in line with one's inclinations, ambitions, purposes, or desires{
the suspect had both motive and opportunity for the murder
}{to keep in the rear of opportunity in matters of indulgence is as valuable a habit as to keep abreast of opportunity in matters of enterprise— Hardy
}{on the whole an infant's desire to learn is so strong that parents need only provide opportunity— Russell
}{to strike out in search of new opportunities in new surroundings— Truman
}Occasion (see also CAUSE 1) carries the basic denotation characteristic of its leading senses—a definite moment or juncture, but it applies only to a moment that provides an opportunity or that calls for or prompts action of a definite kind or nature{had occasion to prove the seaworthiness of this type of lifeboat in a gale— N. B. Marshall
}{he took the occasion to satisfy his desire for revenge
}Occasion may suggest more strongly than opportunity a juncture that provokes or evokes action{with great things charged he shall not hold aloof till great occasion rise— Kipling
}{so long as a child is with adults, it has no occasion for the exercise of a number of . . . virtues . . . required by the strong in dealing with the weak— Russell
}{it has also produced and spread occasions for diseases and weaknesses— Dewey
}Chance applies chiefly to an opportunity that comes seemingly by luck or accident{they had no chance to escape
}{it was war that gave Lenin his chance. He might have died in angry exile in Switzerland— Brogan
}Sometimes the word means little more than a fair or a normal opportunity, especially in negative expressions{the feeling that the system under which we live deprives the majority of the chance of a decent life—Day Lewis
}Break applies to the occasion of a stroke of fortune that is usually good unless the term is qualified (as by an adjective indicating the kind of chance or suggesting its outcome){had been haunting ... the tryouts, for two years: and this was her first break— Wouk
}{ascribe his fortunes to luck, to getting the breaks— Cozzens
}{she always did have a bad break if it was possible to get one— Nevil Shute
}{shady folk ... are generally given a fine break— Lancaster
}Time denotes a juncture that is well-timed or opportune (as for the execution of one's end or purpose){time and tide wait for no man
}{the Mozartian scheme, in which the soloist bides his time in full confidence that he will be handsomely rewarded in the end— Kolodin
}{the time has come to sift and synthesize the findings— Towster
}{this is the time to buy stocks
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
