"magnum opus" meaning in English

See magnum opus in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌmæɡnəm ˈəʊpəs/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌmæɡnəm ˈoʊpəs/ [US] Forms: magna opera [plural], magnum opuses [plural], magnum opi [nonstandard, plural]
enPR: măg'nəm ōʹpəs [US] Etymology: From Latin magnum opus (“great work”). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*h₃ep-}}, {{bor|en|la|magnum opus||great work}} Latin magnum opus (“great work”) Head templates: {{en-noun|magna opera|+|magnum opi|pl3qual=nonstandard}} magnum opus (plural magna opera or magnum opuses or (nonstandard) magnum opi)
  1. A great or important work of literature, music or art, a masterpiece. Translations (masterpiece): mesterværk [neuter] (Danish), meesterwerk [neuter] (Dutch), majstroverko (Esperanto), mestariteos (Finnish), suurteos (Finnish), obra mestra [feminine] (Galician), Meisterwerk [neuter] (German), शाहकार (śāhkār) (Hindi), शहकार (śahkār) (Hindi), शाहपारा (śāhpārā) (Hindi), शहपारा (śahpārā) (Hindi), mahakarya (Indonesian), adikarya (Indonesian), ardsaothar [masculine] (Irish), 代表作 (daihyōsaku) (Japanese), ard-obbyr [feminine] (Manx), magnum opus [neuter] (Polish), opus magnum [neuter] (Polish), obra prima [feminine] (Portuguese), шедевр (šedevr) [masculine] (Russian), obra maestra [feminine] (Spanish), magnum opus (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-magnum_opus-en-noun-X5RNYfl~ Disambiguation of 'masterpiece': 93 2 4
  2. The best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author or artist, representing their major life effort. Translations (the greatest work of an author or artist): majstroverko (Esperanto), pääteos (Finnish), magnum opus [masculine] (French), grand œuvre [masculine] (French), शाहकार (śāhkār) (Hindi), शहकार (śahkār) (Hindi), शाहपारा (śāhpārā) (Hindi), शहपारा (śahpārā) (Hindi), ardsaothar [masculine] (Irish), 畢生の大作 (hissei no taisaku) (Japanese), magnum opus [neuter] (Polish), opus magnum [neuter] (Polish), magnum opus (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-magnum_opus-en-noun-vTUVF~jg Disambiguation of 'the greatest work of an author or artist': 17 70 13
  3. (alchemy) The process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. Categories (topical): Alchemy Synonyms: masterpiece, opus magnum
    Sense id: en-magnum_opus-en-noun-ThiacRT3 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 3 6 91 Topics: alchemy, pseudoscience

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for magnum opus meaning in English (7.1kB)

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    "Don Quixote",
    "In Search of Lost Time",
    "Marcel Proust",
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      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "word": "ardsaothar"
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      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "daihyōsaku",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "sense": "masterpiece",
      "tags": [
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "word": "magnum opus"
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
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      "sense": "masterpiece",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "obra prima"
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      "roman": "šedevr",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "шедевр"
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      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "obra maestra"
    },
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      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "masterpiece",
      "word": "magnum opus"
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      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "majstroverko"
    },
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      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "pääteos"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "magnum opus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "grand œuvre"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "śāhkār",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "शाहकार"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "śahkār",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "शहकार"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "śāhpārā",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "शाहपारा"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "śahpārā",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "शहपारा"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ardsaothar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "hissei no taisaku",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "畢生の大作"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "magnum opus"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "opus magnum"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "the greatest work of an author or artist",
      "word": "magnum opus"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Don Quixote",
    "In Search of Lost Time",
    "Marcel Proust",
    "Miguel de Cervantes"
  ],
  "word": "magnum opus"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (ae36afe and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.