op
Pluralops
Pluralops
- 1Short for operation: surgery, or a planned activity, especially by police, armed forces, or spies.
The covert op was called off when the target changed his plans.
The undercover op ran for six months before anyone was arrested.
UsageCommon in heart op, knee op and undercover op. In formal writing, use operation.
- 2Sayoh-PEEUS/ˌoʊˈpiː/UK/ˌəʊˈpiː/Short for original poster: the person who started an online discussion thread.
Several replies drifted off topic before the OP stepped back in to clarify the question.
OP here: the fix worked, so thanks to everyone who answered.
UsageWritten OP, with or without the: ask (the) OP. OP here means the original poster is speaking.
- 3Short for overpowered: in a game, so strong compared with other options that it upsets the game's balance.
Players complained that the sniper rifle was OP until the latest patch weakened it.
Fans are already calling the new healer class OP.
Note
Gamers use it for a character, class or weapon strong enough to throw a game off balance. It is usually a complaint, and the fix players expect is a patch that weakens whatever has turned out to be OP.
- 4Short for operator: a person who operates a machine or piece of equipment, such as a camera.
Our camera op spent the morning setting up shots on the rooftop.
The forklift op signed for the delivery at the loading dock.
UsageUsually after the machine: camera op, forklift op.
Note
On its own it is easily misread, since op carries so many other meanings; the radio amateur and the chat-channel moderator are two narrower uses of the same shortening.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The amateur-radio and chat-channel senses are narrower uses of op as a shortening of operator. en.wiktionary.org
- 5Short for op art: abstract art with patterns and colors that trick the eye, making shapes seem to move or have depth.
Her dizzying op dress seemed to ripple as she walked across the stage.
The gallery's new show pairs op canvases with early computer art.
UsageFor the movement itself, say op art; the short form suits phrases like an op dress.
Note
The style fools the eye, setting geometric patterns, often in stark black and white, against each other until they seem to move.
- 6Sayoh-PEEUS/ˌoʊˈpiː/UK/ˌəʊˈpiː/Short for opening theme: the music that plays at the start of a show.
The new season's OP was streamed millions of times in its first week.
She learned to play the OP on piano by ear.
Note
Usually the letters name the song: this OP is streamed, sung or learned on piano. Fans also use OP for the opening credits, which are watched or skipped. Both uses came through Japanese, and context usually settles which one a fan means.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Both the opening-theme and opening-credits senses of OP came through Japanese. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Short for opinion: a view or judgment, used online when asking what others think of something.
Just finished this logo for a friend's bakery. Ops?
Thanks for all the ops on my first painting. I'm redoing the sky now.
UsageOften a one-word question after sharing work: Ops? Suits forums and group chats, not messages to clients.
- 8Initialism of Ordo Praedicatorum, the Order of Preachers: the Dominicans, a religious order.
The new book on prayer was written by Brother Thomas Reilly, OP, a friar at the priory.
The college chaplain, Father Peter Shaw, OP, celebrated the opening Mass.
UsageWritten after a name, set off by a comma: Father Peter Shaw, OP.
Note
The initials stay Latin in English, for Ordo Praedicatorum; they happen to fit the English title, the Order of Preachers, but not the familiar name, the Dominicans.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- OP represents the Latin name even in English. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 9Short for opponent: a person one competes against in a fight, game, or contest.
He studied hours of video of his next op before the title fight.
In online chess, you rarely learn anything about your op except their rating.
Note
A clipping that keeps the full reach of opponent: the boxer in the other corner, the player across the board, or anyone working to stop you. In talk of rival gangs it names an enemy in a feud, with a far harder edge, so the setting decides how hostile the word sounds.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Op is a clipping of opponent. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Sayoh-PEEUS/ˌoʊˈpiː/UK/ˌəʊˈpiː/Short for observation post: a position, often hidden, from which soldiers or police keep watch on an area or target.
The patrol manned the OP through the night, reporting every vehicle on the road below.
Detectives ran an OP from an empty apartment opposite the suspect's building.
UsageOften used with verbs like set up, man or run: man an OP.
Note
Soldiers man an OP for its view over a road, an area or a building, and the job there is to watch and report. Police surveillance teams borrow the term for a room or a vehicle they watch a suspect from, and in both worlds an OP is something you man or run.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Law-enforcement observation posts can be indoor locations or vehicles used to watch subjects. ojp.gov
- 11Short for out of print: no longer printed or sold new by the publisher.
The publisher's catalog marks the title OP, so the library will look for a used copy.
Dealers charge a premium for OP first editions in good condition.
UsageMostly in catalogs and listings; in ordinary prose, write out of print.
Note
The book and record trades use this shorthand for a title the publisher no longer supplies, whether a book or a music release. An OP title has not vanished: it usually has to be found secondhand.
- 12An operator on IRC: a user who can moderate a chat channel, ban other users and manage it in similar ways.
Two ops were online that night, so the flood of spam was cleared within minutes.
If someone keeps trolling the channel, message an op rather than arguing back.
Note
Moderators on IRC chat channels carry this title, and the rank comes with real powers: an op can ban users and keep the channel in order. Being promoted to the rank has a word of its own, the verb to op, and both belong to the casual shorthand of chat.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- IRC channel operators moderate their channels. libera.chat
- Channel operators have powers that include banning users and managing the channel. rfc-editor.org
- The verb op refers to granting channel operator status. libera.chat
- 13To promote a user on IRC to the rank of operator.
Can someone op me so I can kick the spammer?
She was opped the moment she joined, since she had founded the channel.
Oppositedeop
Note
The verb grows out of the IRC channel operator and is often passive: a user is opped, or gets opped, on joining a channel. Its forms double the p, opping and opped, and its opposite is deop, which strips the powers away again, so a user can be opped one minute and deopped the next.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The IRC verb op derives from op meaning a channel operator; Wiktionary groups these under the same etymology. en.wiktionary.org
- The inflected forms opping and opped double the p. simple.wiktionary.org
- Deop reverses op by removing channel operator privileges. irssi.org
- 14Sayoh-PEEUS/ˌoʊˈpiː/UK/ˌəʊˈpiː/Short for outpatient: a patient treated at a hospital or clinic without being formally admitted.
Each OP is booked a follow-up appointment before leaving the clinic.
The hospital is moving its OP appointments to the new building next spring.
Note
Hospitals use the letters as shorthand, paired with IP for a patient admitted to stay.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Hospitals use OP for outpatient alongside IP for inpatient. healthacademy.lancsteachinghospitals.nhs.uk
- An inpatient is a patient admitted to stay in hospital. uhnmodules.ca
- 15To shop at op shops (charity shops), or to buy a particular item there.
She likes to op the kids' winter clothes instead of buying them new.
Mate, I opped a whole set of old dinner plates for ten bucks.
UsageUsed like buy: I opped a lamp. Forms: ops, opping, opped.
- 16Short for overplayed: of a song, played so often that people have grown tired of hearing it.
Skip this one. It's OP, and every station has played it to death.
I loved that summer anthem at first, but after hearing it at every party it feels OP.
UsageIn gaming talk OP usually means too strong, so let the subject show you mean a song.
Note
Music fans online use the letters for a song repeated until listeners are sick of it. The complaint is about the repetition, not the song: a good track can still be OP.
- 17Short for overproof: of liquor, containing more alcohol than the strength officially called proof.
- 18Short for organophosphate: a kind of chemical, often used to kill insects, that can also make people sick.
- 19Initialism of opposite prompt: stage right.
- 20Short for Office of the President: the government office that directly supports the president and oversees agencies that report to the president.
- 21Initialism of other person's: a cigarette cadged from someone else.
- 22Short for original publishing: publishing music under a direct agreement with its writer.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
A shortened form of opponent, operation, or operator.
From Japanese OP, short for オープニング, from English opening.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- English OP comes from Japanese OP. en.wiktionary.org
- Japanese OP abbreviates オープニング. en.wiktionary.org
- Japanese オープニング comes from English opening. en.wiktionary.org
Shortened from op shop.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Op is shortened from op shop. en.wiktionary.org