Latin Word of the Week 002 praeter opinionem, contrary to expectation (Patreon)

Word of the Week series index

Latin WotW 002

praeter opīniōnem “contrary to expectation”

Impertiō salūtem! Welcome back to the Word of the Week series. Today let’s do a Latin phrase: praeter opīniōnem, which means “contrary to expectation.” It has a few variants, listed from most to least frequent in Classical authors:

praeter opīniōnem

contrā opīniōnem

praeter exspectātiōnem

contrā exspectātiōnem

Here is an example from Cicero, In Catilinam (3.1.1):

Nam, cum id posset infitiari, repente praeter opinionem omnium confessus est.

For although he could have denied it, contrary to the expectation of everyone, he suddenly confessed.

Contrā opīniōnem jam aliud vocābulum hebdomadis in lūcem ēdidī!

Contrary to expectation, I have already released another word of the week. And I hope to share least one word or phrase from an ancient language every week with you, dear Patron. Grātiās multās. Valeās!