Opus vs Piece - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between opus and piece

is that opus is a work of music or set of works with a specified rank in an ordering of a composer's complete published works while piece is a part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

As a verb piece is

to assemble (something real or figurative).

opus

English

Noun

(en-noun)

A work of music or set of works with a specified rank in an ordering of a composer's complete published works.

Beethoven's ''opus'' eighteen quartets are considered by many to be the beginning of the Romantic era.

A work, especially of art.

The painter's last opus was a dedication to all things living, in a surprising contrast to all of his prior work.

Usage notes

The most common plural of opus'' in English is ''opuses''. Some people use the Latin plural, ''opera''. ''Opi'' is fairly common in the field of classical music, though mostly in informal contexts. The use of any of these three pluralizations may result in the speaker being corrected, though ''opi'' above all should be avoided in formal contexts. Outside of music, the word ''opus'' sees particularly frequent use in the expression ''magnum opus .

Anagrams

* * English nouns with irregular plurals ----

piece

English

Alternative forms

* peece (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)

A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

A single item belonging to a class of similar items: as, for example, a piece of machinery, a piece of software.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}

(chess) One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; by extension, a similar counter etc. in other games.

* 1959 , (Hans Kmoch), Pawn Power in Chess , I:

Pawns, unlike pieces , move only in one direction: forward.

A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.

a sixpenny piece

An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.

An artillery gun.

(US, Canada, colloquial) (short for hairpiece); a toupee or wig, usually when worn by a man.

A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.

* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 46:

My grannie came and gived them all a piece and jam and cups of water then I was to bring them back out to the street and play a game.

(US, colloquial) A gun.

(US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail

(US, colloquial, mildly, vulgar) (short for "piece of crap") a shoddy or worthless object, usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances.

(US, slang) A cannabis pipe.

(baseball) Used to describe a pitch that has been hit but not well, usually either being caught by the opposing team or going foul. Usually used in the past tense with got, and never used in the plural.

(dated, sometimes, derogatory) An individual; a person.

* Sir Philip Sidney

If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.

* Shakespeare

Thy mother was a piece of virtue.

* Coleridge

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.

(obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.

(Spenser)

(US) A pacifier.

Synonyms

* See also * See also

Usage notes

When used as a baseball term, the term is idiomatic in that the baseball is almost never broken into pieces. It is rare in modern baseball for the cover of a baseball to even partially tear loose. In professional baseball, several new, not previously played baseballs are used in each game. It could be argued that the phrase was never meant (not even metaphorically) to refer to breaking the ball into pieces, and that "get a piece of the ball" means the bat contacts only a small area of the ball - in other words, that the ball is hit off-center. In that case "get" would mean "succeed in hitting", not "obtain".

Derived terms

* bits and pieces * piecemeal * piecen * piece of cake * piece of eight * piece of the action

Verb

(piec)

(transitive, usually, with together) To assemble (something real or figurative).

These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.

* Fuller

His adversaries pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.

To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out .

to piece a garment

(Shakespeare)

(slang) To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.

* 2009 , Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground (page 40)

It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece ; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.

* 2009 , Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti (page 124)

It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing .

Derived terms

* piece together * repiece * unpiece 1000 English basic words ----