1
as in chameleons
a person who dexterously and expediently changes or adopts opinions
ever the opportunist, she immediately set about becoming the incoming administrator's new best friend
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in bottom-feeders
one who does things only for his own benefit and with little regard for right and wrong
an opportunist who makes friends and then drops them as soon as they aren't useful anymore
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of opportunists
Some of those pushing anti-Jewish invective on the right are opportunists.
—
Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2026
During her opening statement on Tuesday, defense lawyer Teny Geragos sought to cast the women who have come forward against the Alexander brothers as being opportunists motivated by money.
—Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2026
Farage has instituted a May 7 deadline for prospective Conservative defectors to officially switch to Reform, warning that his party will not be open to last-minute opportunists seeking to court his growing support base closer to election time.
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 26 Jan. 2026
Thousands of players entered the portal this cycle and the sport’s biggest opportunists (and spenders) were active early.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 16 Jan. 2026
Sérgio Lisboa Machado, a co-author of the paper and a professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, said mosquitoes are opportunists who don't venture far to find food.
—Dr. Crystal Richards, ABC News, 14 Jan. 2026
The movie follows a group of petty cheats, liars and drunks who are duped by nefarious opportunists who visit their crumbling town.
—John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
The sci-fi comedy follows a Paige, Keke Palmer and Naomi Ackie as a crew of boosters (aka professional shoplifters/equal opportunists), who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 13 Dec. 2025
The film’s most powerful scene arrives when Turdugul’s grandmother refuses to sell her property to routine opportunists and laments about a vanishing village that has been slipping through her fingers — an occasion Akynbekov and Kubat approach with an unobtrusive, documentarian aesthetic.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2026
During her opening statement on Tuesday, defense lawyer Teny Geragos sought to cast the women who have come forward against the Alexander brothers as being opportunists motivated by money.
—Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2026
Farage has instituted a May 7 deadline for prospective Conservative defectors to officially switch to Reform, warning that his party will not be open to last-minute opportunists seeking to court his growing support base closer to election time.
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 26 Jan. 2026
Thousands of players entered the portal this cycle and the sport’s biggest opportunists (and spenders) were active early.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 16 Jan. 2026
Sérgio Lisboa Machado, a co-author of the paper and a professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, said mosquitoes are opportunists who don't venture far to find food.
—Dr. Crystal Richards, ABC News, 14 Jan. 2026
The movie follows a group of petty cheats, liars and drunks who are duped by nefarious opportunists who visit their crumbling town.
—John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
The sci-fi comedy follows a Paige, Keke Palmer and Naomi Ackie as a crew of boosters (aka professional shoplifters/equal opportunists), who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 13 Dec. 2025
The film’s most powerful scene arrives when Turdugul’s grandmother refuses to sell her property to routine opportunists and laments about a vanishing village that has been slipping through her fingers — an occasion Akynbekov and Kubat approach with an unobtrusive, documentarian aesthetic.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for opportunists
Noun
-
In the middle of this spectrum, a trio of mid-career stylistic chameleons and sometime collaborators — Feid, J Balvin, and Bad Bunny — carefully map out intersecting tastes.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
30 Jan. 2026
-
The Kardashian-Jenner clan are known to be quite the hair chameleons, sometimes debuting a new transformation with every outing.—
Christina Perrier,
InStyle,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Warriors already might be too far ahead in the standings to catch bottom-feeders like the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers in the race to maximize their draft-lottery odds.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
20 Jan. 2026
-
For nearly the first two decades of their existence, the New Orleans Saints were NFL bottom-feeders.—
Jim Reineking,
USA Today,
11 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
One of Katy Perry’s two gyrating sharks in fugue state.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Yet despite their impressive size, encounters with these enigmas remain exceedingly rare due to the myriad of challenges of studying deep-sea sharks.—
Melissa Cristina Márquez,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Opportunists.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/opportunists. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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