opus

Borrowed from Latin opus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpəs/, /ˈɒpəs/^[1]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊpəs, -ɒpəs

opus (plural opuses or opera)

1. (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.

2. 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.

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.

Abbreviations: op., Op.

• POUs, PUOs, Pous, pous, puso, soup

Borrowed from Latin opus.

• IPA^(key): [ˈopus]
• Hyphenation: opus

opus m inan

1. opus

• “opus”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “opus”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

• puso

Learned borrowing from Latin opus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈoː.pʏs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: opus

opus n (plural opera or opussen, diminutive opusje n)

1. opus

• oeuvre
• opera

Borrowed from Latin opus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈopus/, [ˈo̞pus̠]
• Rhymes: -opus
• Syllabification^(key): o‧pus
• Hyphenation^(key): opus

opus

1. (colloquial) book
2. (music) opus

• “opus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

• sopu, supo

Borrowed from Latin opus. Doublet of œuvre and opéra.

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.pys/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

opus m (invariable)

1. opus, artistic work

   Synonym: œuvre

• “opus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

opus

1. (reintegrationist norm) first-person singular preterite indicative of opor

Borrowed from Latin opus. Doublet of the inherited Old Italian uopo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.pus/
• Rhymes: -ɔpus
• Hyphenation: ò‧pus

opus m

1. opus

• op. (abbreviation)

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”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɔ.pʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɔː.pus]

opus n (genitive operis); third declension

1. work, labor, accomplishment

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opera, labor, cūra, intēnsiō, mōlēs, pulvis

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 6.348:

     cessat opus; vacuae conticuēre molae

     Work stops; the empty millstones have fallen silent.

2. workmanship, artwork, work (of art, literature, etc.)

   Synonym: cūra

3. 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, […]

   • 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.

4. art, skill (when in the ablative)

   Synonyms: opera, ars, artificium

5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) work (of God), deed, (miraculous) work
6. (in adverbial phrases) extent
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 868:

     CHREMĒS: Āh, nē saevī tantō opere. (Or, elided) Āh, nē saevī tantopere.

     (Literally) Ah, don’t be savage to such a great extent. (Or, simply) Oh, don’t be so cruel.
     (Grammar: tantō is an ablative singular adjective modifying the ablative singular noun opere. Together they form an ablative of manner or degree: “to such an extent.” The conjoined version, tantopere, functions as a single adverb with the same meaning.)

7. (in Roman architecture) masonry, construction technique, construction material

   opus africanum, opus craticum, opus emplectum, opus gallicum, opus incertum, opus isodomum, opus latericium, opus mixtum, opus quadratum, opus reticulatum, opus vittatum, etc. ― various types thereof, see The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, 2015, pp.536-537

The sense of "need" is used only in the nominative and accusative singulars.

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Note: see opera for descendants of the plural form.

Borrowings:

• “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 (2003-2026), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• "opus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, 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^[3], 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
    
• 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

opus

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of opor

Past participle of opune (based on pus, past participle of pune).

• IPA^(key): /oˈpus/
• Rhymes: -us

opus m or n (feminine singular opusă, masculine plural opuși, feminine/neuter plural opuse)

1. opposite, contrary
2. reverse

opus

1. the opposite, contrary
2. reverse

• contrar

opus

1. past participle of opune

Borrowed from Latin opus. Compare also the inherited doublet op, as well as operă.

• IPA^(key): /ˈo.pus/

opus n (plural opusuri)

1. opus, musical composition or work