| 释义 |
opportuˈnistic, a.
[f. opportunist + -ic.]
1. Pertaining to or characteristic of an opportunist.
1892Speaker 5 Mar. 292/2 He attempts to apologise for them..on the opportunistic ground that the fecundity of the black races threatens the ‘political effacement of the European population’. 1958J. Baldwin in W. King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 284 Their religion was strongly mixed with an opportunistic respectability and with ambitions to better society and their own place in it. 1976Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. XXVII. 89 The common man is portrayed as the innocent and helpless victim of opportunistic and self-serving politicians who must be replaced by enlightened and benign rulers. 1976Publishers Weekly 15 Mar. 118/3 An opportunistic TV programmer brings him to New York and takes an exploitation piece. 1977Listener 20 Oct. 515 The ebullient..Furnivall comes out of it badly (vain, unprincipled,..opportunistic, unscholarly—though no one contributed more quotations for the dictionary).
2. Ecol. Of a species: especially suited to unexploited or newly formed habitats and occurring in populations whose size is not determined primarily by their density, being characterized by poor competitiveness in relation to other species and an ability to increase rapidly in numbers and to disperse readily.
1960R. MacArthur in Amer. Naturalist XCIV. 33 A distinction is made between opportunistic and equilibrium species. 1974Jrnl. Marine Res. XXXII. 267 Capitella capitella and the other relatively opportunistic species discussed may be continuously present if the environment is unpredictable or may disappear as in the case of recovery following the oil spill.
3. Med. Of a fungus or micro-organism: not normally pathogenic but becoming so in certain circumstances, as when the body is rendered vulnerable by other agencies. Of an infection: caused by such an organism.
[1955Sci. Amer. May 31/2 Was it not possible, they argued, that the bacteria were only the secondary cause of disease—opportunistic invaders of tissues already weakened by crumbling defenses?] 1962Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. XCVIII. 617 (heading) Experiences with and diagnosis of diseases due to opportunistic fungi. 1962Laboratory Investigation XI. 1073/1 Opportunistic infections by bacteria, viruses, and protozoa are known. 1970C. W. Emmons et al. Med. Mycol. (ed. 2) 3 The fungi which cause systemic and subcutaneous mycoses have been called ‘opportunistic fungi’ to emphasize the aspect of a normally saprobic fungus which can suddenly become parasitic and pathogenic when it is introduced by inhalation or traumatic implantation into the human body... It has also been used to designate fungi which cause disease only in a patient with a concurrent disease which increases his susceptibility, or in one whose innate immunity has been otherwise impaired. 1973Chest LXIII. 4/1 Even more striking is the rise of opportunistic fungal infections accompanying: transplantation, immunosuppression, heart surgery and intravenous hyperalimentation. Today one can no longer accept a culture report of ‘nonpathogenic fungus isolated’, for indeed there may be no truly nonpathogenic fungus.
Hence ˌopportuˈnistically adv., in an opportunist manner.
1958Times 27 Dec. 2/4 In one brief interlude Phillips nearly scored opportunistically at the other end. 1960W. V. Quine Word & Object v. 188 We can vacillate between two, opportunistically enjoying their incompatible advantages. 1972Maclean's Mag. Sept. 10/1 He will act with expediency but not often, I think, opportunistically. 1976Sci. Amer. Apr. 117/2 At the same time the adults will feed opportunistically on lesser prey: frogs, crabs and small fish. |