opportunist

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Opportunist (of lat . Opportunus "favorable", "comfortable") has the following meanings:

  • in common parlance, a person who acts expediently in order to adapt to and take advantage of the situation. Opportunism is often described politically and socially as behavior without principle or character.
  • in medicine an opportunistic pathogen which only leads to a disease due to a special disposition of the host, such as an immune deficiency
  • among investors a type of investor who uses seemingly favorable events or trends for their investment decisions, see transaction cost theory
  • In economics, opportunity costs denote the benefits that one might miss by choosing the next best option
  • In biology and ecology, species or individuals of plants or animals that use every opportunity to their advantage outside of their specific normal range


See also:

Wiktionary: Opportunist  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations