opus
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈəʊpəs/, /ˈɒpəs/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊpəs, -ɒpəs
Noun
- (music) A work of music or set of works with a specified rank in an ordering of a composer's complete published works.
- Beethoven's "Razumovsky" Quartets, Op. 59, are considered by many to be the beginning of the Romantic era.
- A work, especially of art.
- The painter's last opus was a dedication to all things living, in a surprising contrast to all of his prior work.
Usage notes
The most common plural of opus in English is opuses. Some people use the Latin plural, opera. Opi is fairly common in the field of classical music, though mostly in informal contexts. The use of any of these three pluralizations may result in the speaker being corrected, though opi, above all, should be avoided in formal contexts. Outside of music, the word opus sees particularly frequent use in the expression magnum opus.
Translations
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈopus]
- Hyphenation: opus
Declension
Related terms
Further reading
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈoː.pʏs/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: opus
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈopus/, [ˈo̞pus̠]
- Rhymes: -opus
- Syllabification(key): o‧pus
Declension
Inflection of opus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
nominative | opus | opukset | ||
genitive | opuksen | opusten opuksien | ||
partitive | opusta | opuksia | ||
illative | opukseen | opuksiin | ||
singular | plural | |||
nominative | opus | opukset | ||
accusative | nom. | opus | opukset | |
gen. | opuksen | |||
genitive | opuksen | opusten opuksien | ||
partitive | opusta | opuksia | ||
inessive | opuksessa | opuksissa | ||
elative | opuksesta | opuksista | ||
illative | opukseen | opuksiin | ||
adessive | opuksella | opuksilla | ||
ablative | opukselta | opuksilta | ||
allative | opukselle | opuksille | ||
essive | opuksena | opuksina | ||
translative | opukseksi | opuksiksi | ||
abessive | opuksetta | opuksitta | ||
instructive | — | opuksin | ||
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Possessive forms of opus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Further reading
- “opus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɔ.pys/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “opus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Galician
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɔ.pus/
- Rhymes: -ɔpus
- Hyphenation: ò‧pus
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *opos, from a Proto-Indo-European *h₃ép-os (“work”), from the verbal root *h₃ep- (“to work”), whence also ops and omnis. Cognates include Sanskrit अपस् (ápas, “work, action”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈo.pus/, [ˈɔpʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈo.pus/, [ˈɔːpus]
Noun
opus n (genitive operis); third declension
- work, labor, accomplishment
- workmanship, artwork, work (of art, literature, etc.)
- Synonym: cūra
- need, necessity
- Synonyms: egestās, pēnūria, paupertās, dēsīderium, necessitās, inopia, indigentia, ūsus
- opus esse +nom. or +abl. of the thing needed ― to have need of, there is need of
- alicui opus est aliquo ― someone needs something
- opus est ― it is necessary
- mihi frumentum non opus est ― I do not need the grain
- 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:
- Si supplemento opus esset, suppleret de legionibus quibus P. Cornelius pro praetore in Sicilia praeesset, […]
- If reinforcements were needed, he should supply them with the legions which Publius Cornelius, propraetor, was in charge of in Sicily, […]
- Si supplemento opus esset, suppleret de legionibus quibus P. Cornelius pro praetore in Sicilia praeesset, […]
- 1683 [1637], René Descartes, Geōmetria, section 1, page 1:
- Omnia Geōmetriae Problēmata facile ad hujusmodī terminōs redūcī possunt, ut deinde ad illōrum cōnstrūctiōnem, opus tantum sit rēctārum quārundam līneārum longitūdinem cognōscere.
- All Problems of Geometry can easily be reduced to such terms, that afterwards for their construction, there is only need [or it is only necessary] to get to know the length of certain straight lines.
- art, skill (when in the ablative)
- Synonyms: opera, ars, artificium
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) work (of God), deed, (miraculous) work
- (in adverbial phrases) extent
Usage notes
The sense of "need" is used only in the nominative and accusative singulars.
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | opus | opera |
Genitive | operis | operum |
Dative | operī | operibus |
Accusative | opus | opera |
Ablative | opere | operibus |
Vocative | opus | opera |
Derived terms
References
- “opus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “opus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- opus in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
- opus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- opus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to devote every spare moment to...; to work without intermission at a thing: nullum tempus intermittere, quin (also ab opere, or ad opus)
- to entreat earnestly; to make urgent requests: magno opere, vehementer, etiam atque etiam rogare aliquem
- to do work (especially agricultural): opus facere (De Senect. 7. 24)
- to take a task in hand, engage upon it: opus aggredi
- to take a task in hand, engage upon it: ad opus faciendum accedere
- a work of art: artis opus; opus arte factum or perfectum
- a master-piece of classical work: opus summo artificio[TR1] factum
- a master-piece of classical work: opus omnibus numeris absolutum
- to polish, finish a work with the greatest care: perpolire, limare diligenter librum, opus
- to contract for the building of something: opus locare
- to undertake the contract for a work: opus redimere, conducere
- tillage; cultivation: opus rusticum
- a town artificially fortified: oppidum manu (opere) munitum
- to set fire to the siege-works: ignem inferre operibus (B. C. 2. 14)
- in short; to be brief: ne multa, quid plura? sed quid opus est plura?
- (ambiguous) to strain every nerve, do one's utmost in a matter: omni ope atque opera or omni virium contentione eniti, ut
- (ambiguous) designedly; intentionally: de industria, dedita opera (opp. imprudens)
- (ambiguous) to put the finishing touch to a work: extrema manus accēdit operi (active extremam manum imponere operi)
- (ambiguous) to let out public works to contract: locare opera publica
- (ambiguous) to raise siege-works: opera facere
- to devote every spare moment to...; to work without intermission at a thing: nullum tempus intermittere, quin (also ab opere, or ad opus)
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 432
Portuguese
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /oˈpus/
- Rhymes: -us
Adjective
opus m or n (feminine singular opusă, masculine plural opuși, feminine and neuter plural opuse)
Declension
Synonyms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈo.pus/