opt

See also: OPT, oPt, OPt, opt., and opᵗ

English

Etymology

From French opter, from Latin optare “to choose” or "to select".

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒpt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑpt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɔpt/

  Rhymes: -ɒpt

Verb

opt (third-person singular simple present opts, present participle opting, simple past and past participle opted)

1. (intransitive) To choose; select.

   He opted not to go.

   She opted for the salad rather than the steak.

   They opted against taking the train, preferring the bus.

   • 1872 November 12, “Strasburg Germanised”, in Daily News‎^[1], London, page 5:

     .... ardent anti-Germans who had 'opted' for France

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     The Italian opted for Bolton's Cahill alongside captain John Terry - and his decision was rewarded with a goal after only 13 minutes. Bulgaria gave a hint of defensive frailties to come when they failed to clear Young's corner, and when Gareth Barry found Cahill in the box he applied the finish past Nikolay Mihaylov.

   • 2023 February 22, Stephen Roberts, “Reading... between the lines... to Wales”, in RAIL, number 977, page 59:

     Chepstow is good for excursions, and Bradshaw tells me I can get a fly to Tintern Abbey, although the fare structure seems particularly complicated. Alternatively, I could go for a simpler choice and just opt for "single horse, 1s", although I doubt I'd survive to tell the tale.

Derived terms

• opt in, opt-in
• opt out, opt-out
• co-opt

Related terms

• option
• optional

Translations

to choose

• Bulgarian: избирам (bg) (izbiram), спирам се на (spiram se na)
• Catalan: optar (ca)
• Esperanto: elekti
• Finnish: päättää (fi), valita (fi)
• French: opter (fr)
• German: optieren (de), wählen (de), sich entscheiden
• Italian: optare (it)
• Latin: optō
• Portuguese: optar (pt)
• Romanian: opta (ro)
• Russian: реша́ть (ru) (rešátʹ), выбира́ть (ru) (vybirátʹ)
• Spanish: optar (es)
• Swedish: välja (sv)

Anagrams

• OTP, PTO, TPO, pot, top

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• oft

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō.

Adverb

opt (comparative optarr, superlative optast)

1. often
   • Hávamál, verse 135

     […] at hárum þul / hlæ þú aldregi,
     oft er gótt, / þat er gamlir kveða; […]

     […] at a grey-haired sage / never laugh,
     often is good, / that which the old tell; […]

Descendants

• Icelandic: oft
• Faroese: ofta
• Norwegian Nynorsk: ofte
• Norwegian Bokmål: ofte
• Swedish: ofta
• Danish: ofte

References

• “opt”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Romanian

Romanian numbers ^(edit)

	80
←  7	8	9  →
Cardinal: opt     Ordinal: optulea     Multiplier: octuplu     Fractional: optime

Etymology

Inherited from Latin octō, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /opt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Numeral

opt

1. eight

Derived terms

• optzeci
• optime