opinion

See also: opinión

English

Etymology

From English opine +‎ -ion, from Middle English opinion, opinioun, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French opinion, from Latin opīniō, from opīnor (“to opine”). Displaced native Old English wēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈpɪnjən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: opin‧ion
• Rhymes: -ɪnjən

Noun

opinion (countable and uncountable, plural opinions)

1. A belief, judgment or perspective that a person has formed, either through objective or subjective reasoning, about a topic, issue, person or thing.

   I would like to know your opinions on the new filing system.

   In my opinion, white chocolate is better than milk chocolate.

   Every man is a fool in some man's opinion.

   We invite you to state your opinions about the suggestions.

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist:

     Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

2. The judgment or sentiment which the mind forms of persons or things; estimation.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii], page 135, column 1, line 32:

     I haue bought / Golden Opinions from all ſorts of people, […]

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     Friendship […] gives a man a peculiar right and claim to the good opinion of his friend.

3. (obsolete) Favorable estimation; hence, consideration; reputation; fame; public sentiment or esteem.
   • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], signature K2, verso:

     Thou haſt redeemed thy loſt opinion, […]

   • 1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 70:

     This gain’d Agricola much opinion; who […] had made ſuch early progreſs into laborious […] enterpriſes.

4. (obsolete) Obstinacy in holding to one's belief or impression; opiniativeness; conceitedness.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], lines 3–6:

     […] your reaſons at Dinner haue been ſharpe & ſententious: pleaſant without ſcurillitie, wittie without affection, audatious without impudencie, learned without opinion, and ſtrange without hereſie: […]

5. The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a doctor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted.
6. (European Union law) A judicial opinion delivered by an Advocate General to the European Court of Justice where he or she proposes a legal solution to the cases for which the court is responsible.

Synonyms

• take (noun)
• view

Derived terms

• accountant's opinion
• adverse opinion
• advisory opinion
• be of the opinion
• clean opinion
• concurring opinion
• counteropinion
• court of public opinion
• court of world opinion
• court opinion
• difference of opinion
• disopinion
• dissenting opinion
• division of opinion
• except for opinion
• expert opinion
• fairness opinion
• feelpinion
• in my honest opinion
• in my humble opinion/IMHO
• in my opinion
• in one's opinion
• legal opinion
• matter of opinion
• memorandum opinion
• misopinion
• opinional
• opinionate
• opinionative
• opinioned
• opinion former
• opinion host
• opinionist
• opinion leader
• opinionless
• opinion maker
• opinionmaking
• opinion piece
• opinion poll
• opinion privilege
• opinion privilege
• opinions are like assholes
• opinion shopping
• opinion show
• popular opinion
• postopinion
• preopinion
• public opinion
• scientific opinion
• second opinion
• self-opinion
• slip opinion
• subject to opinion

 

Related terms

• opination
• opine
• opinionated

 

Translations

thought a person has formed about a topic

• Albanian: mendim (sq) m
• Arabic: رَأْي m (raʔy), نَظَر (ar) m (naẓar), فِكْر (ar) m (fikr), عَقِيدَة (ar) f (ʕaqīda)

  Hijazi Arabic: رَإِي m (raʔi)

• Armenian: կարծիք (hy) (karcikʻ)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: opinión (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: fikir (az), rəy (az), nəzər (az)
• Bashkir: фекер (feker), уй (uy)
• Basque: iritzi
• Belarusian: зда́нне n (zdánnje), ду́мка (be) f (dúmka), пагля́д m (pahljád), по́гляд m (póhljad)
• Bengali: অভিমতি (obhimoti), নজর (bn) (nojor)
• Bulgarian: мне́ние (bg) n (mnénie), въ́зглед (bg) m (vǎ́zgled), схва́щане (bg) n (shváštane)
• Burmese: ဆန္ဒ (my) (hcanda.), အထင် (my) (a.htang)
• Buryat: һанал (hanal)
• Catalan: opinió (ca) f, parer (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 意見／意见 (ji³ gin³), 睇法 (tai² faat³)

  Dungan: йиҗян (yiži͡an)

  Hokkien: 意見／意见 (zh-min-nan) (ì-kiàn)

  Mandarin: 意見／意见 (zh) (yìjiàn), 看法 (zh) (kànfǎ), 見解／见解 (zh) (jiànjiě)

• Czech: názor (cs) m, posudek (cs) m
• Danish: mening c
• Dutch: mening (nl) f, opinie (nl) f, visie (nl) f, zienswijze (nl) f, gedachte (nl) f
• Esperanto: opinio
• Estonian: arvamus (et)
• Finnish: mielipide (fi), näkemys (fi), mieli (fi)
• French: avis (fr) m, opinion (fr) f
• Friulian: parè
• Galician: opinión (gl) f
• Georgian: აზრი (ka) (azri), მოსაზრება (mosazreba), შეხედულება (šexeduleba)
• German: Meinung (de) f, Ansicht (de) f, Anschauung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐍄𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (mitōns)
• Greek: γνώμη (el) f (gnómi), άποψη (el) f (ápopsi)

  Ancient: γνώμη f (gnṓmē)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: דֵעָה (he) f (de'á)
• Hindi: विचार (hi) m (vicār), राय (hi) f (rāy), ख़याल m (xayāl), अभिमत (hi) (abhimat), नज़र m (nazar)
• Hungarian: vélemény (hu), nézet (hu), szakvélemény (hu)
• Icelandic: álit
• Ido: opiniono (io)
• Indonesian: opini (id) pendapat (id)
• Irish: tuairim (ga), meas m, barúil (ga) f
• Italian: opinione (it) f, concetto (it) m, parere (it), giudizio (it) m
• Japanese: 意見 (ja) (いけん, iken), 見解 (ja) (けんかい, kenkai)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: пікір (pıkır), ой (kk) (oi)
• Khalaj: aqîdə
• Khmer: យោបល់ (km) (yoobɑl), មតិ (km) (mĕəʼteʼ), គំនិត (km) (kumnɨt)
• Korean: 의견(意見) (ko) (uigyeon), 견해(見解) (ko) (gyeonhae)
• Kyrgyz: пикир (ky) (pikir), ой (ky) (oy)
• Lao: ຄວາມເຫັນ (khuām hen), ທັດສະນະ (that sa na), ສຽງ (lo) (sīang)
• Latgalian: redzīņs m
• Latin: ōpīniō f, sententia f, iudicium (la) n
• Latvian: doma f
• Lithuanian: nuomonė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Meenung (lb) f, Avis (lb) m, Usiicht f
• Macedonian: мислење n (mislenje), мнение n (mnenie)
• Malay: pendapat (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭിപ്രായം (ml) (abhiprāyaṁ)
• Maltese: fehma f, opinjoni f
• Mingrelian: არზი (arzi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: санал (mn) (sanal)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mening (no) m or f, synspunkt (no) n

• Occitan: opinion (oc) f
• Old English: wēna m
• Ottoman Turkish: بیلك (bilek), آرا (ara)
• Persian: نظر (fa) (nazar), عقیده (fa) ('aqide), رأی (fa) (ra'y), فکر (fa) (fekr)
• Polish: opinia (pl) f, zdanie (pl) n, pogląd (pl) m
• Portuguese: opinião (pt) f
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: părere (ro) f, opinie (ro) f
• Russian: мне́ние (ru) n (mnénije), взгляд (ru) m (vzgljad), воззре́ние (ru) n (vozzrénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: barail f, beachd m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ми̏шље̄ње n, мне́ње n, на́зор m

  Roman: mȉšljēnje (sh) n, mnénje n, názor (sh) m

• Slovak: názor m
• Slovene: mnenje n
• Spanish: opinión (es) f, parecer (es) m, juicio (es) m, apreciación (es) f, concepto (es) m, consideración (es) f, sentencia (es) f
• Swahili: maoni (sw)
• Swedish: mening (sv) c, uppfattning (sv) c, omdöme (sv) n, tycke (sv) n, åsikt (sv) c
• Tagalog: opinyon (tl)
• Tajik: фикр (tg) (fikr), мулоҳиза (mulohiza), андеша (andeša), назар (tg) (nazar), ақида (aqida), рой (roy), раъй (raʾy)
• Tamil: கருத்து (ta) (karuttu)
• Tatar: фикер (tt) (fiker), уй (tt) (uy)
• Telugu: అభిప్రయము (abhiprayamu)
• Thai: ความเห็น (th) (kwaam-hěn), เสียง (th) (sǐiang)
• Tibetan: བསམ་ཚུལ (bsam tshul)
• Tok Pisin: tingting
• Turkish: görüş (tr), fikir (tr)
• Turkmen: pikir
• Ukrainian: ду́мка (uk) f (dúmka), по́гляд (uk) m (póhljad), здання́ n (zdannjá)
• Urdu: رائے f (rāy), خیال m (xayāl), نظر (ur) m (nazar)
• Uyghur: پىكىر (pikir), ئوي (oy)
• Uzbek: fikr (uz), mulohaza (uz), nazar (uz), oʻy (uz)
• Vietnamese: ý kiến (vi) (意見), kiến giải (vi), ý (vi)
• Volapük: kredül (vo)
• Welsh: barn (cy)
• Yiddish: מיינונג f (meynung)
• Zazaki: fıkır m, asatış c

EU: a judicial opinion by an Advocate General delivered to the European Court of Justice

• Bulgarian: заключе́ние (bg) n (zaključénie)
• Czech: stanovisko (cs) n
• Dutch: conclusie (nl) f
• Estonian: ettepanek
• Finnish: ratkaisuehdotus (fi)
• French: conclusions (fr) f pl
• German: Schlussanträge pl
• Greek: προτάσεις (el) f (protáseis)
• Italian: conclusioni (it) f pl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uttalelse m

• Portuguese: conclusão (pt) f
• Russian: заключе́ние (ru) n (zaključénije)
• Slovak: návrhy m pl
• Spanish: conclusiones (es) f pl

See also

• fact

Verb

opinion (third-person singular simple present opinions, present participle opinioning, simple past and past participle opinioned)

1. (transitive, archaic) To have or express as an opinion.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Graden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 166:

     But if (as some opinion) King Ahasuerus were Artaxerxes Mnemon [...], our magnified Cyrus was his second Brother

Translations

opine — see opine

References

• “opinion”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• opinion in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “opinion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Esperanto

Noun

opinion

1. accusative singular of opinio

French

Etymology

From Middle French opinion, from Latin opīniōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.pi.njɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

opinion f (plural opinions)

1. opinion (thought, estimation)

Derived terms

• délit d’opinion
• faiseur d’opinion
• opinion publique
• prisonnier d’opinion

 

Further reading

• “opinion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin opīniō.

Noun

opinion f (plural opinions)

1. opinion (thought, estimation)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin opīniō, via French opinion.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

opinion m (definite singular opinionen, indefinite plural opinioner, definite plural opinionene)

1. (public) opinion

Derived terms

• folkeopinion

References

• “opinion” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin opīniō, via French opinion.

Noun

opinion m (definite singular opinionen, indefinite plural opinionar, definite plural opinionane)

1. (public) opinion

Derived terms

• folkeopinion

References

• “opinion” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin opīniō.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

opinion f (plural opinions)

1. opinion

   Synonym: vejaire

Swedish

Noun

opinion c

1. (public) opinion (opinion of a (larger) group of people)

Declension

Declension of opinion
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	opinion	opinionen	opinioner	opinionerna
Genitive	opinions	opinionens	opinioners	opinionernas

Derived terms

• opinionsundersökning (“opinion poll”)

See also

• åsikt

References

• opinion in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• opinion in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• opinion in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)