Word of the Day Archive
Monday December 18, 2006
opportune \op-uhr-TOON; -TYOON\ , adjective:
Suitable for a given purpose or occasion; timely.
There is a war on. It's not the most opportune of times to distract the president with a phony political scandal.
-- James Taranto, OpinionJournal, January 14, 2002
With corporate America under siege, there has never been a more opportune moment to adopt better business practices.
-- Arianna Huffington, "The Coming Corporate Revolution?", AlterNet, August 12, 2002
O lesson opportune, O how I welcome thee!
-- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Opportune is from Latin opportunus, from ob portum, "toward port." For travelers at sea who wish to return to land, it's a welcome wind that blows toward the port.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for opportune
