opinion

noun

she did not share her husband's opinion

- a matter of opinion

- be of the opinion

- in my opinion

Syn:

belief, judgment, thought(s), (way of) thinking, mind, (point of) view, viewpoint, outlook, attitude, stance, position, perspective, persuasion, standpoint; sentiment, conception, conviction

••

opinion, belief, conviction, persuasion, sentiment, view

When you give your opinion on something, you offer a conclusion or a judgment that, although it may be open to question, seems true or probable to you at the time (she was known for her strong opinions on women in the workplace). A view is an opinion that is affected by your personal feelings or biases (his views on life were essentially optimistic), while a sentiment is a more or less settled opinion that may still be colored by emotion (her sentiments on aging were shared by many other women approaching fifty). A belief differs from an opinion or a view in that it is not necessarily the creation of the person who holds it; the emphasis here is on the mental acceptance of an idea, a proposition, or a doctrine and on the assurance of its truth (religious beliefs; his belief in the power of the body to heal itself). A conviction is a firmly-held and unshakable belief whose truth is not doubted (she could not be swayed in her convictions), while a persuasion (in this sense) is a strong belief that is unshakable because you want to believe that it's true rather than because there is evidence proving it so (she was of the persuasion that he was innocent).