magnum opus
noun
Did you know?
You may recognize magnum (meaning "great") as a Latin word that shows up in altered forms in several English words, and perhaps you can also come up with a few words that are related to opus ("work"). Magnitude, magnanimous, opulent, and operate are some obvious relations of the two. Magnum opus, which entered English in the 18th century, retains the original Latin spelling and the literal meaning "great work." Although the term most often refers to literary, musical, or artistic productions, it has been used to describe many kinds of great works, including games, construction projects, and even surgical techniques.
Examples of magnum opus in a Sentence
Alex Ritman, Variety, 16 May 2024
Yet to imagine that an 85-year-old filmmaker, who’s suffered great loss and experienced great love, who’s spent a lifetime thinking about history’s heroes and villains and thinkers, and who’s willing to risk it all for one last magnum opus can’t really be considered naive.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2024
The publication of Rawls’s magnum opus A Theory of Justice in 1971 marks a watershed moment in the history of political thought, drawing favourable comparisons to the likes of John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, even Plato.
—Daniel Chandler, TIME, 14 May 2024
Glasner goes for broke in his eighth feature, delivering a magnum opus of family dysfunction.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
What there is instead is a brilliantly inventive magnum opus by Anaïs Mitchell, a masterwork that garnered eight Tony Awards when — after a rambling route of out-of-town productions, a concert tour, a concept album and off-Broadway stagings — the show debuted on the Great White Way in 2019.
—Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2024
See also: eel ‘The Theory of the Leisure Class’ by Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen’s 1899 magnum opus, The Theory of the Leisure Class, could be considered a forerunner of the behavioral economics so popular now.
—The Editors, Robb Report, 28 Mar. 2024
Yet DuVernay, a filmmaker who’s nothing if not iconoclastic and daring, isn’t interested in crafting a cinematic version of a Wikipedia page, any more than Wilkerson was intent on solely detailing the state of our fractured nation in her groundbreaking 2021 magnum opus Caste.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2024
This affluent area on the island’s northern coast even served as inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby.
—Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'magnum opus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near magnum opus
Cite this Entry
“Magnum opus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magnum%20opus. Accessed 23 May. 2024.
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magnum opus
noun
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