opinion

o·pin·ion (

-p

1. A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof: "The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion" Elizabeth Drew.

2. A judgment based on special knowledge and given by an expert: a medical opinion.

3. A judgment or estimation of the merit of a person or thing: has a low opinion of braggarts.

4. The prevailing view: public opinion.

5. Law A formal statement by a court or other adjudicative body of the legal reasons and principles for the conclusions of the court.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin opni, opnin-, from opnr, to think.]

Synonyms: opinion, view, sentiment, feeling, belief, conviction, persuasion
These nouns signify something a person believes or accepts as being sound or true. Opinion is applicable to a judgment based on grounds insufficient to rule out the possibility of dispute: "A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible" Woodrow Wilson.
View stresses individuality of outlook: "My view is . . . that freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have or the views they express" Hugo L. Black.
Sentiment and especially feeling stress the role of emotion as a determinant: "If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences . . . reason is of no use to us" George Washington. "There needs protection . . . against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling" John Stuart Mill.
A belief is a conclusion to which one subscribes strongly: "Our belief in any particular natural law cannot have a safer basis than our unsuccessful critical attempts to refute it" Karl Popper.
Conviction is belief that excludes doubt: "the editor's own conviction of what, whether interesting or only important, is in the public interest" Walter Lippmann.
Persuasion applies to a confidently held opinion: "He had a strong persuasion that Likeman was wrong" H.G. Wells.

opinion

Noun

1. belief not founded on certainty or proof but on what seems probable

2. evaluation or estimation of a person or thing: they seemed to share my high opinion of her

3. a judgment given by an expert: medical opinion

4. a matter of opinion a point open to question [Latin opinio belief]

Opinion

See also ideas.

heterodoxy

1. the state of being at variance with established doctrines or beliefs.
2. a heterodox view or belief.

opinionist

a person fond of his own opinions and of making them known.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	opinion - a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty; "my opinion differs from yours"; "I am not of your persuasion"; "what are your thoughts on Haiti?" persuasion, sentiment, thought, view idea - a personal view; "he has an idea that we don't like him" judgment, judgement, mind - an opinion formed by judging something; "he was reluctant to make his judgment known"; "she changed her mind" belief - any cognitive content held as true eyes - opinion or judgment; "in the eyes of the law"; "I was wrong in her eyes" parti pris, preconceived idea, preconceived notion, preconceived opinion, preconception, prepossession - an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence; "he did not even try to confirm his preconceptions" pole - one of two divergent or mutually exclusive opinions; "they are at opposite poles"; "they are poles apart" political sympathies, politics - the opinion you hold with respect to political questions
	2.	opinion - a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof; "his opinions appeared frequently on the editorial page" view subject matter, content, message, substance - what a communication that is about something is about adverse opinion - an opinion concerning financial statements (usually based on an audit by a CPA) that the statements as a whole do not present results fairly or are not in conformity with the generally accepted accounting practices of the United States speculation, supposition, surmisal, surmise, guess, conjecture, hypothesis - a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence side, position - an opinion that is held in opposition to another in an argument or dispute; "there are two sides to every question"
	3.	opinion - a belief or sentiment shared by most people; the voice of the people; "he asked for a poll of public opinion" popular opinion, public opinion, vox populi belief - any cognitive content held as true
	4.	opinion - the legal document stating the reasons for a judicial decision; "opinions are usually written by a single judge" judgement, legal opinion, judgment legal document, legal instrument, official document, instrument - (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right concurring opinion - an opinion that agrees with the court's disposition of the case but is written to express a particular judge's reasoning dissenting opinion - an opinion that disagrees with the court's disposition of the case majority opinion - the opinion joined by a majority of the court (generally known simply as `the opinion') fatwah - (Islam) a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar; "bin Laden issued three fatwahs calling upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States" dictum, obiter dictum - an opinion voiced by a judge on a point of law not directly bearing on the case in question and therefore not binding law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"
	5.	opinion - the reason for a court's judgment (as opposed to the decision itself) ruling judicial decision, judgment, judgement - (law) the determination by a court of competent jurisdiction on matters submitted to it fatwa - a ruling on a point of Islamic law that is given by a recognized authority law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"
	6.	opinion - a vague idea in which some confidence is placed; "his impression of her was favorable"; "what are your feelings about the crisis?"; "it strengthened my belief in his sincerity"; "I had a feeling that she was lying" impression, notion, belief, feeling idea, thought - the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about; "it was not a good idea"; "the thought never entered my mind" presence - the impression that something is present; "he felt the presence of an evil force" effect - an impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived); "he just did it for effect" first blush - at the first glimpse or impression; "at first blush the idea possesses considerable intuitive appeal but on closer examination it fails" hunch, suspicion, intuition - an impression that something might be the case; "he had an intuition that something had gone wrong"

opinion

noun 1. belief, feeling, view, idea, theory, notion, conviction, point of view, sentiment, viewpoint, persuasion, conjecture

noun 2. estimation, view, impression, assessment, judgment, evaluation, conception, appraisal, considered opinion be of the opinion believe, think, hold, consider, judge, suppose, maintain, imagine, guess (informal), chiefly U.S., Canad. reckon, conclude, be convinced, speculate, presume, conjecture, postulate, surmise, be under the impression matter of opinion debatable point, debatable, open question, open to question, moot point, open for discussion, matter of judgment

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