opinion

[uh-pin-yuh n] /əˈpɪn yən/
noun
1.
a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2.
a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3.
the formal expression of a professional judgment:
to ask for a second medical opinion.
4.
Law. the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5.
a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc.:
to forfeit someone's good opinion.
6.
a favorable estimate; esteem:
I haven't much of an opinion of him.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin opīniōn- (stem of opīniō), derivative of opīnārī to opine
Related forms
preopinion, noun
underopinion, noun
Can be confused
opine, opinion.
Synonyms
1. persuasion, notion, idea, impression.
Synonym Study
1. Opinion, sentiment, view are terms for one's conclusion about something. An opinion is a belief or judgment that falls short of absolute conviction, certainty, or positive knowledge; it is a conclusion that certain facts, ideas, etc., are probably true or likely to prove so: political opinions; an opinion about art; In my opinion this is true. Sentiment (usually pl.) refers to a rather fixed conviction, usually based on feeling or emotion rather than reasoning: These are my sentiments. View is an estimate of something, an intellectual judgment, a critical survey based on a mental examination, particularly of a public matter: views on governmental planning.
Examples from the web for opinion
  • In my humble opinion, vanilla is going to be the real winner.
  • Contrary to popular opinion, cheese and wine aren't an easy match.
  • It is a good exercise to try for once in a way to express any opinion one holds in words of one syllable.
  • Nature, habit, opinion have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them.
  • It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity.
  • The offender may then be justly punished by opinion, though not by law.
  • The sensitiveness to foreign opinion which had been the marked feature of our mental condition before the war had disappeared.
  • Imitators are a slavish herd and fools in my opinion.
  • Each link takes you to the newspaper's opinion site.
  • The best scientific opinion says any amount of exposure is dangerous and more exposure is more dangerous.
British Dictionary definitions for opinion

opinion

/əˈpɪnjən/
noun
1.
judgment or belief not founded on certainty or proof
2.
the prevailing or popular feeling or view: public opinion
3.
evaluation, impression, or estimation of the value or worth of a person or thing
4.
an evaluation or judgment given by an expert: a medical opinion
5.
the advice given by a barrister or counsel on a case submitted to him or her for a view on the legal points involved
6.
a matter of opinion, a point open to question
7.
be of the opinion that, to believe that
Word Origin
C13: via Old French from Latin opīniō belief, from opīnārī to think; see opine
Word Origin and History for opinion
n.

c.1300, from Old French opinion "opinion, view, judgements founded upon probabilities" (12c.), from Latin opinionem (nominative opinio) "opinion, conjecture, fancy, belief, what one thinks; appreciation, esteem," from stem of opinari "think, judge, suppose, opine," from PIE *op- "to choose" (see option).

Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. [Milton, "Areopagitica"]

Idioms and Phrases with opinion

opinion

see: