Opp means opponent, enemy, or rival. It is short for “opposition,” and it started in hip-hop before spreading to TikTok, Instagram, X, and everyday texting. If someone calls you their opp, they are saying you are on the other side of something. That could be a real conflict, or it could be a joke between friends.
But here is the catch. The same three letters can also point to a 1991 rap hit, a Canadian police force, or a business shorthand for “opportunity.” Which one you are looking at depends entirely on where you spotted it. This guide walks through every meaning, where the slang came from, and how to use it without sounding like you are trying too hard.
What Does Opp Mean in Slang?
In modern slang, an opp is anyone you see as an opponent. Merriam-Webster’s slang entry defines “opps” as one’s opposition, and notes the word is used in the singular (opp) but shows up more often in the plural (opps). It began as a way to describe people in potentially dangerous conflict, and it has since widened to cover almost any kind of antagonist.
That widening is the whole story of the word today. Online, an opp might be:
- A rival crew, team, or group in the original street and rap sense
- Someone you are feuding with in the comments
- A person on the opposite side of a debate
- A coworker who keeps scheduling meetings at 4:45 on a Friday
- A friend who is playfully “against” your plans, like the one telling you not to buy that jacket
The tone changes a lot with the speaker. In a drill verse, it is serious. In a teenager’s caption, it is usually a joke. Merriam-Webster itself points out that the word is often used in a jocular way, and that the adversaries can be real or completely imagined.
Where Does the Word Opp Come From?
The word grew out of hip-hop, and more specifically out of Black American English and Chicago’s drill scene. Know Your Meme traces the earliest known use of the abbreviation to Chicago drill artist Chief Keef’s 2011 track “John Madden.” The shortened form stayed fairly niche until around 2016, when drill’s growing reach pushed it into much wider circulation.
Drill itself matters here. The genre came out of Chicago in the early 2010s, and as Wikipedia’s overview of drill music notes, the terms “opp” and “opps” show up constantly in its lyrics to refer to rivals and enemy gang members. From there the word traveled with the music as drill spread to New York, the UK, and beyond.
The jump into everyday language came in the late 2010s. Rappers and public figures, including Playboi Carti, Lil Durk, Cardi B, and Young Thug, tweeted the word in 2018, and social media did the rest. By the time TikTok teens picked it up, it was on its way to becoming standard internet vocabulary. The Daily Dot’s slang column on the term made a point worth remembering: this is not new Gen Alpha slang. It is older AAVE vocabulary that younger users adopted, and it carries real cultural history.
Other Meanings of OPP You Might Run Into
Because the letters are so short, OPP gets reused in a handful of very different ways. Here is a quick table before the details.
| Meaning | Where you will see it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opponent or enemy | Social media, texting, rap and drill | “He is definitely an opp.” |
| Opportunity | Work chats, sales, job hunting | “This could be a big opp for the team.” |
| Other People’s Property | The 1991 Naughty by Nature song and older slang | A reference to the song’s title |
| Ontario Provincial Police | Canadian news and official sources | “OPP are investigating.” |
OPP as “Opportunity”
In an office or a sales channel, “opp” is just a quick way to type “opportunity.” Nobody is fighting anybody. You will see it in lines like “great opp to network” or “new job opp just opened up.” If the conversation is about deals, hiring, or clients, this is almost certainly what the person means.
OPP as “Other People’s Property”
This is the older meaning, and it comes from the 1991 Naughty by Nature hit “O.P.P.” Dictionary.com’s entry explains that the song’s title referred to sexual infidelity, with the group framing it as “other people’s property” while the final letter stood for something far more explicit. It is a completely separate idea from the modern enemy-or-rival slang. If you hear someone hum the chorus at a throwback party, this is the one they mean, and it has nothing to do with opps in the drill sense.
OPP as Ontario Provincial Police
In Canada, OPP is the official abbreviation for the Ontario Provincial Police. If you are reading Canadian news and the word is capitalized with no slang context, this is what it refers to.
How to Use Opp in a Sentence
Using the word naturally mostly comes down to tone. Here is how it plays out in real situations.
Playful and casual
- “My little brother hid the remote again. Opp behavior.”
- “Why is my opp in the group chat texting me first?”
- “Prom is going to be fun as long as no opps show up.”
Competitive or rivalry-based
- “We play our biggest opps on Friday night.”
- “Not linking with opps this season.”
Serious
In rap and drill, the word can describe genuine violent conflict. In that setting, it is not a joke, and it is not slang you want to casually toss at a real person. That context is the reason many people hear the word differently than a teenager posting a meme does.
Common Opp Phrases and What They Mean
- Opp behavior: acting disloyal, hostile, or just annoying, like sharing a screenshot you were never meant to see.
- No opps: a statement that you want no rivals or drama around.
- Opp list: the (often joking) list of people who have crossed you.
- Linking with opps: being friendly with someone seen as the other side, usually said as a warning or accusation.
- Spot an opp: noticing a rival in the crowd.
- Opp check: a popular TikTok format where creators show a run-in with a rival or react to opposition.
Opp vs. Similar Slang
It helps to see how opp differs from words that overlap with it.
- Opp vs. hater: A hater criticizes you out of jealousy. An opp is on the opposing side, whether or not envy is involved. Still, the two get mixed together a lot in casual use.
- Opp vs. enemy: “Enemy” sounds formal and dramatic. “Opp” is shorter, more current, and easier to say with a wink.
- Opp vs. OP: This one trips people up. “OP” means original poster, the person who started a thread. It is a single P, and it has nothing to do with rivalry.
- Opp vs. rival: A rival suggests friendly competition. An opp leans more adversarial, even when used jokingly.
If you enjoy decoding internet shorthand, you might also like our breakdowns of what ICL means, what LFG means, and KMSL, which show up in many of the same comment sections.
Is Opp Offensive?
Usually not, but context matters. Among friends, calling someone your opp over a board game is harmless. Calling a real person an opp in a way that targets or threatens them is a different thing, and in the street and drill context where the word began, it can describe serious conflict. A good rule: if you would not be comfortable explaining the joke to the person you are tagging, skip it.
It also helps to remember where the word comes from. Using slang from AAVE and hip-hop is common now, but it carries history. Understanding that background is a small way to use the word with respect.
Why Opp Caught On So Fast
Three things pushed this word from Chicago blocks to group chats across the country:
- Music: Drill and trap artists repeated it until listeners adopted it.
- Social media: Viral tweets and TikTok trends spread it far beyond its original circles.
- Flexibility: It is short, it has a plural, it works as a joke, and it can describe anyone from a rival to a roommate who ate your leftovers.
Slang that bends like that tends to stick around, which is why opp has outlasted many of its trendier cousins.
Frequently Asked Questions
In texting, opp most often means opponent, enemy, or rival. Between friends it is usually a joke. In a work chat, it may simply mean “opportunity.”
In rap, especially drill, opp refers to enemies or rival groups. The term is tied to the genre’s focus on street conflict and rivalry.
Opps is the plural of opp. It refers to more than one opponent, or to a person’s whole circle of enemies and rivals.
On TikTok, opp usually means a rival or someone who is “against” you, often in a comedic way. It shows up in captions, skits, and “opp check” videos.
It depends on the context. It can stand for opposition or opponent in slang, opportunity in business, Ontario Provincial Police in Canada, and “Other People’s Property” in the Naughty by Nature song.
No. OP means original poster, the person who began a thread or post. Opp means opponent or enemy.
It came from hip-hop and Black American English, popularized through Chicago drill music in the early 2010s before reaching mainstream social media.
The Bottom Line
Opp means opponent, enemy, or rival, and today it works as both a serious label and a lighthearted joke. Check the setting before you decide what it means: rap and social media point to rivals, offices point to opportunities, Canadian news points to the police, and a throwback song points back to 1991. Once you read the context, the meaning is rarely hard to figure out.