opportunist
Other forms: opportunists
Opportunists are people who see a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals. An opportunist seizes every opportunity to improve things for himself.
Say you won millions in the lottery. People would come out of the woodwork hoping to get their hands on some of it. These people act as if they are close friends. But they are not; they are opportunists. Famous opportunists include “carpetbaggers,” Northern opportunists who, after the American Civil War, poured into the South to turn Reconstruction into personal financial gains.
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a person who places expediency above principle
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synonyms:
self-seeker
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types:
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backscratcher
someone who is willing to trade favors or services for mutual advantage
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bottom feeder
an opportunist who profits from the misfortunes of others
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carpetbagger
an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously
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hustler, operator, wheeler dealer
a shrewd or unscrupulous person who knows how to circumvent difficulties
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timeserver
one who conforms to current ways and opinions for personal advantage
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wire-puller
one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends
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type of:
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selfish person
a person who is unusually selfish
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taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit
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synonyms:
opportunistic, timeserving
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expedient
serving to promote your interest
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expedient
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Vocabulary lists containing opportunist
Twelve-year-old Felicity Juniper Pickle, with the help of a mysterious Beedle, tries to bring magic back to the town of Midnight Gulch.
This list covers "The Treasure of Lemon Brown," "Flowers for Algernon," and "Rules of the Game."
In this memoir, Leyson details how he and his family survived the Holocaust with the help of Oskar Schindler.
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