opening

1 a favorable combination of circumstances, time, and place <the talk show host's usual modus operandi is to talk over his guests, thereby denying them an opening to articulate their positions> Synonyms break, chance, occasion, opportunity, room, shotRelated Words play, way; juncture, pass

2 a place in a surface allowing passage into or through a thing <an opening in the roof is letting rain drip inside> Synonyms aperture, hole, orifice, perforationRelated Words loophole; breach, break, chink, cleft, crack, cranny, crevice, cut, fissure, gash, notch, rent, rift, rupture, slash, slit, split, tear; slot, space; exit, mouth, outlet, pore, vent; entrance, inlet, intake; pinhole, pinprick, punch, puncture; airhole, armhole, buttonhole, keyhole, knothole, peephole, pothole, wormholeNear Antonyms fill, filler, filling, patch, plug, seal, stopper; barrier, blockage, obstacle, obstruction

3 an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge) <the rabbit found a little opening in the bushes and darted through> Synonyms breach, break, discontinuity, gulf, hiatus, hole, interstice, interval, gap, rent, rift, separation, voidRelated Words chink, cleft, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure; notch, slit, slot, split; interspace, pore; abyss, aperture, cavity, chasm, gape, orifice; fracture, rupture, severance, sundering