Meaning of window of opportunity | Babel Free

Definitions

A (usually limited) period of time in which suitable action can achieve success.

Equivalents

Examples

“U.S. officials also thought a preventive war [against the Soviet Union] would be costly, and U.S. allies would be disapproving. Thus U.S. leaders saw⟳ a fading window of opportunity, but the opportunity was not very attractive; it would not be followed by vulnerability; and it probably would not be followed by a war.”

“The EMTs had given Lolly magnesium on the ride⟳ in, Dr. Salazar said, and that had put⟳ the injury in "slo-mo." And with stroke victims, "time was brain," she said; the quicker there was treatment, the better the odds of avoiding permanent damage⟳. "When she got here, we gave her a clot-buster called tPA. Great drug if the patient gets it in time―acts like⟳ Drano on clogged arteries―but the operative word here is if. Time-wise, there's only a small window of opportunity. When the blood supply's cut⟳ off, brain cells begin⟳ to die⟳. I think⟳ you'd better prepare⟳ yourself for the fact that your aunt will most likely have⟳ an altered life." "Altered how?" "Too soon to tell⟳. We'll know⟳ more in the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours."”

“The Lord moves in mysterious ways – though not a thousandth as mysterious as those of his senior personnel from time to time – so there is no earthly possibility of predicting how long the window of opportunity enjoyed by Pope Francis is likely to be.”

“There is a narrow window of opportunity to save⟳ ourselves, and the innumerable other species that we are destroying with reckless abandon. There is still time to rid⟳ ourselves of fossil fuels, not much. We will grasp the opportunity, or the human experiment⟳ will come⟳ to an inglorious end⟳.”

CEFR level