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