All 3 Uses of
opportune
in
The Scarlet Letter
- It perplexed, as well as shocked her, by the irreverent inopportuneness of the occasions that brought it into vivid action.
Chpt 5 *inopportuneness = inappropriateness (bad circumstances)standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in inopportuneness means not and reverses the meaning of opportuneness. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- But that perversity, which all children have more or less of, and of which little Pearl had a tenfold portion, now, at the most inopportune moment, took thorough possession of her, and closed her lips, or impelled her to speak words amiss.
Chpt 8inopportune = badstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in inopportune means not and reverses the meaning of opportune. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Individuals of wiser faith, indeed, who knew that Heaven promotes its purposes without aiming at the stage-effect of what is called miraculous interposition, were inclined to see a providential hand in Roger Chillingworth's so opportune arrival.
Chpt 9opportune = timely or advantageous
Definition:
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(opportune) favorable circumstances for a particular purpose -- especially the circumstance of good timing