opening

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Open space

Nouns

1. opening, hole, foramen; aperture, yawning, oscitancy, dehiscence; chasm (see interval); breach.

2. (small opening) puncture, perforation, scuttle; pinhole, keyhole, loophole, porthole, peephole, pigeonhole; eye, eyelet, slot, oriel; porousness, porosity. Slang, glory hole.

3. (passageway) outlet, egress; inlet, ingress; port; vent, vomitory; embouchure; crater, orifice, mouth, sucker, muzzle, throat, gullet; estuary; pore; nozzle, tap, spigot; bore, caliber.

4. (opening in a building) door, doorway, entrance, entry, portal, porch, gate, astiary, postern, wicket, trapdoor, hatch; arcade; gateway, hatchway, gangway; embrasure, window, casement, light; dormer; lantern; skylight, fanlight; lattice, louver. Slang, gazer. See building.

5. sieve, screen, filter, colander; honeycomb; notch, cleft, embrasure.

6. (device for opening) opener, key, skeleton key, passkey, master key; passe-partout; latch; passport, password, pass (see indication); can opener, church key; punch, gouge; piercer, borer, auger, gimlet, stylet, drill, awl, bradawl; corkscrew; dibble; trocar, trepan, probe; bodkin, needle, stiletto; reamer; warder; lancet; spear.

Verbs

1. open, gape, gap, yawn, bilge; fly or hang open; ope (poet.); unfurl, unroll; dehisce.

2. perforate, pierce, run through, tap, bore, drill; mine; tunnel; transfix; enfilade, impale, spike, spear, gore, spit, stab, pink, puncture, lance, stick, prick, riddle, punch; stave in; cut a passage through, make way or room for, open up or out; cut, expose, lay or break open, breach, broach. Slang, loid.

Adjectives — open, perforate[d], wide open, ajar, agape; unclosed, unstopped; ope (poet.), oscitant, gaping, yawning, cavernous; patent; tubular, cannular, fistulous; pervious, permeable; foraminous; vesticular, vascular, porous, follicular, honeycombed; notched, nicked, crenate; infundibular, riddled; tubulous, tubulated; opening; aperient.

Quotations — Each flower is a soul opening out to nature (Gérard de Nerval).

Antonyms, see closure.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

Syn. initial, beginning, primary; see first 1 .

n.

1. [A hole]

Syn. break, crack, tear; see hole 1 , 2 .

2. [An opportunity]

Syn. chance, availability, occasion; see opportunity 1 , possibility 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. hole gap, orifice, slot, aperture, chasm, crack, rift, hollow, lacuna, gateway, doorway.

2. beginning start, commencement, initiation, introduction, inauguration, launch, *kickoff.

3. vacancy position, chance, availability.

ANT.: 1. closure, occlusion, blockage, seal. 2. ending, closing, finale

II

a.

beginning, starting, commencing, initiating, introducing, inaugurating, launching, *kicking off.

ANT.: closing, ending, finalizing

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. An open space allowing passage: aperture, hole, mouth, orifice, outlet, vent. See OPEN. 2. The initial stage of a developmental process: beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, origin, outset, spring, start. See START. 3. The act or process of bringing or being brought into existence: beginning, commencement, inauguration, inception, incipience, incipiency, initiation, launch, leadoff, origination, start. Informal: kickoff. See START. 4. A favorable or advantageous combination of circumstances: break, chance, occasion, opportunity. Informal: shot. See LUCK.