Opus
Contents
English
Noun
Opus (plural opuses or opera)- A work of music or set of works with a specified rank in an ordering of a composer's complete published works.
- Beethoven's opus eighteen quartets 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.
Thesaurus
Nachtmusik, absolute music, adaptation, air varie, aleatory, aleatory music, arrangement, article, artifact, autograph, best seller, book, bound book, brainchild, chamber music, chamber orchestra, child, classic, coinage, coloring book, composition, computer printout, concoction, copy, creation, creature, crowning achievement, definitive work, descant, distillation, document, draft, edited version, effect, electronic music, end product, engrossment, essay, essence, etude, exercise, extract, fair copy, fiction, final draft, finished version, first draft, flimsy, folio, fruit, great work, handiwork, hardback, harmonization, holograph, incidental music, instrumental music, invention, issue, juvenile, juvenile book, letter, limp-cover book, literae scriptae, literary artefact, literary production, literature, lucubration, magnum opus, manufacture, manuscript, masterpiece, masterwork, matter, mintage, new mintage, nocturne, nonbook, nonfiction, notebook, novel, oeuvre, offspring, opera, opuscule, opusculum, orchestration, original, origination, outcome, outgrowth, paper, paperback, parchment, penscript, picture book, piece, piece of writing, play, playbook, pocket book, poem, prayer book, printed matter, printout, product, production, program music, psalmbook, psalter, publication, reading matter, recension, result, ricercar, score, screed, scrip, script, scrive, scroll, second draft, serial, sketchbook, soft-cover, sonata, sonatina, songbook, standard work, storybook, string orchestra, string quartet, study, the written word, theme and variations, title, tome, trade book, transcript, transcription, trio, typescript, variation, version, volume, work, writing
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin opus.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -əʊpəs
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.
Anagrams
Latin
Noun
opus (genitive operis); n, third declension
Etymology
From an s-stem Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os- (“work”), from the verbal root *h₃ep- (“to work”), whence also ops and omnis. Cognates include Sanskrit अपस् (ápas, “work, action”) and Old English efnen (“to perform”).
Inflection
| Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | opus | opera |
| genitive | operis | operum |
| dative | operī | operibus |
| accusative | opus | opera |
| ablative | opere | operibus |
| vocative | opus | opera |
Derived terms
Descendants
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References
- Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008, page 432
