Opinion

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈpɪnjən/

Definitions

1. A personal view, judgment, or belief about something that is not necessarily based on fact or knowledge
2. A belief, assessment, or preference regarding a particular issue that stems from personal feelings and may differ widely among individuals
3. A belief or judgment held by an individual about a particular subject that may not be based on concrete evidence or universal agreement

Etymology: Before it meant a personal belief, "opinion" was a word for reputation and rumour. Latin "opīniō" came from "opīnārī," to suppose or think, and the Latin sense carried a looser, less certain tone than our modern word implies. Medieval writers used it to describe what people generally thought of someone, the common estimation in which a person was held, and that sense of collective judgement lingered in English for centuries. The English word arrived by way of Middle French and Anglo-Norman, where "opinion" was already in use, and it displaced the native Old English term "wēna," meaning expectation or supposition. That replacement tells us the Latin borrowing took hold strongly, pushing aside an older Germanic word for the same mental act of holding a view. Over time the meaning narrowed from public reputation toward the individual mind. A belief became something a single person owned, which is why we now speak of "my opinion" as a private possession, while the older sense survives in phrases where someone's standing is judged by others.

Synonyms: belief, view, perspective, judgment, assessment

Antonyms: fact, truth, certainty, reality, knowledge