opt

UK/ɒpt//ɑpt/

opt verb: to choose; select.

Verb

opt (third-person singular simple present opts, present participle opting, simple past and past participle opted)

(intransitive) To choose; select.
- He opted not to go.
- She opted for the salad rather than the steak.

OPT

Alternative letter-case form of oPt.
- Restrictions on Movement: IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Occupied East Jerusalem.2006 September 11, shergald, “Palestine: Weekly Report of Human Rights Violations”, in Daily Kos, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2025
- […] inside what is often referred to as the West Bank, but is officially labeled the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).2009, Moises F. Salinas, Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, p 45
(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Optional Practical Training.
- But there are many other programs mentioned in the draft that are important to the tech community. Programs like the J-1, for summer work travel, and the OPT, for international students to stay in the U.S. after graduating. Both were recently revised under the Obama administration. Also, the E-2...2017 January 30, Sara Ashley O'Brien, “Trump's immigration reform: High-skilled visas may be next”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 27 May 2025

OPt

oPt

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of occupied Palestinian territories.
- The term occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) is used by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)2008, Palgrave Macmillan, Humanitarian Response Index 2008: Donor Accountability in Humanitarian Action, page 195
- […] many aspects of the lives of its inhabitants, according to international law, it must remain responsible for the health in the oPt.2010, Elvira Beracochea, Rights-Based Approaches to Public Health, page 351

They opted against taking the train, preferring the bus.
.... ardent anti-Germans who had 'opted' for France1872 November 12, “Strasburg Germanised”, in Daily News, London, page 5:
The Italian opted for Bolton's Cahill alongside captain John Terry - and his decision was rewarded with a goal after only 13 minutes.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2020:
Alternatively, I could go for a simpler choice and just opt for "single horse, 1s", although I doubt I'd survive to tell the tale.2023 February 22, Stephen Roberts, “Reading... between the lines... to Wales”, in RAIL, number 977, page 59:

third-person singular present	opts
present participle	opting
past participle	opted
past	opted

First attested in 1853; borrowed from French opter, from Latin optō (“to choose; to select”). Doublet of optate.

What does opt mean?: Opt means to choose; select.
How do you use opt in a sentence?: They opted against taking the train, preferring the bus.
What part of speech is opt?: Opt can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce opt?: Opt is pronounced /ɒpt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of opt?: The past tense of opt is opted.

Adapted from Wiktionary: opt (page history and authors); OPT (page history and authors); OPt (page history and authors); oPt (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-opt.ogg.

Cite this entry: “opt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/opt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.