Dictionary

operate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɒpəɹeɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /ˈɑpəɹeɪt/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃épos Proto-Italic *opos Latin opus Latin opera Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin operātusder. English operate From Latin operātus, perfect passive participle of operor (“to work, labor, toil, have effect”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Meanings

1. (intransitive, transitive) To perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.
   • In this town, the garbage removal staff operate between six o'clock at midnight.
   • The police had inside knowledge of how the gang operated.
   • Could someone explain how this meeting operates?
2. (intransitive) To produce an effect.
   • We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year. 2012 January 14, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 23:
3. (intransitive) To produce an effect. ▸ To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (medicine) to take appropriate effect on the human system.
   • The drug operates by facilitating the negative neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), resulting in the blocking of neural long-term potentiation. 2010, Peter A. Frensch, Ralf Schwarzer, Cognition and Neuropsychology:
4. (intransitive) To produce an effect. ▸ To act or produce an effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence.
   • A plain, convincing reason operates on the mind both of a learned and ignorant hearer as long as they live. 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman:
   • The Virtues of private Perſons, how Bright and Exemplary ſoever, operate but on Few; on thoſe only who are near enough to obſerve, and inclin'd to imitate them: their ſphere of Action is narrow, and their Influence is confin'd to it. 1706 September 18 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preach’d in the Guild-Hall Chapel, London, Sept. 28. 1706. Being the Day of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 405:
5. (transitive) To bring about as an effect; to cause.
   • Strictures upon style, which are for the most part good, but time has operated a change in many respects even since he wrote. 1830 March 24, Charles Francis Adams Sr., Massachusetts Historical Society: Adams Papers Digital Edition, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2022, Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 3:
   • It is supposed that western Europe was overpopulated and that the crusades operated a beneficial reduction of numbers. 1906, William Graham Sumner, Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals, Boston: Ginn and Co., archived from the original on 02 May 2024, page 212:
6. (intransitive, transitive) To perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health, as in amputation, lithotomy, etc.
   • I'm being operated tomorrow.
   • The surgeon had to operate on her heart.
7. (intransitive, transitive) To deal in stocks or any commodity with a view to speculative profits.
8. (transitive) To put into, or to continue in, operation or activity; to work.
   • to operate a machine
   • to operate a casino
   • Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
   • Termokarstovoye is 250 km east of Tarkosale where Novatek operates a processing facility for its own onshore production. 2009 June 25, Uchenna Izundu, “Total, Novatek to develop Termokarstovoye gas field”, in Oil & Gas Journal, archived from the original on 17 May 2024:
   • to operate a system

Forms

Deriveds

operating room · operatable · operating expense · operating system · underoperate · misoperate · operatee · teleoperate · chief operating officer · power-operate · reoperate · operating cycle · overoperate · power-operated · operating concept · operating theater · coin-operated · battery-operated · operating theatre · operating loss · operating table · operating depth · interoperate · operating time · inter-operate

Relateds

operative · cooperate · coöperate · operant · opera · operator · operational · opus · co-operate · operand · operation · operable

Translations (96)

ru эксплуати́ровать (to operate a machine) · mi poka (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · th ผ่าตัด (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · uk оперува́ти (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · fi toimia (to produce a physical effect) · hu befolyásol ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · ru рабо́тать (to perform a work or labour) · hu tevékenykedik (to perform a work or labour) · hu operál (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · uk керува́ти (to operate a machine) · es operar (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · fi käyttää (to operate a machine) · bg въздействам (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · he נִתֵּחַ (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · pt trabalhar (to perform a work or labour) · fi aiheuttaa ((''transitive'') to bring about as an effect; to cause) · ru де́йствовать (to produce a physical effect) · hu előidéz ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · hu üzemel (to perform a work or labour) · fr opérer (to perform a work or labour) · hu közrejátszik ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · ru спекули́ровать (to deal in stocks) · it operare (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · it influenzare (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · hu hat (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · fi tehota (to produce a physical effect) · hu műt (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · gl operar (to perform a work or labour) · gl obrar (to perform a work or labour) · ru опери́ровать (to operate a machine) · hu működik (to produce a physical effect) · uk працюва́ти (to perform a work or labour) · pt operar (to operate a machine) · bg действам (to produce a physical effect) · ja 操作する (to operate a machine) · cmn 動手術 /动手术 (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · gl traballar (to perform a work or labour) · cmn 操作 (to operate a machine) · nrf opéther (to perform a work or labour) · mi hāparapara (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · fi toimia (to perform a work or labour) · de bedienen (to operate a machine) · mi tapahi (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · hu tevékenységet folytat (to perform a work or labour) · it operare (to perform a work or labour) · es operar (to perform a work or labour) · kw oberi (to perform a work or labour) · ru ока́зывать влия́ние (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · it speculare (to deal in stocks) · hu üzemeltet (to operate a machine) · hu hat ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · it operare ((''transitive'') to bring about as an effect; to cause) · hu szerepet játszik ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · hu működik (to perform a work or labour) · grc ἐνεργέω (to produce a physical effect) · km វះកាត់ (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · eo operacii (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · hu működtet (to operate a machine) · ru опери́ровать (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · hu hat (to produce a physical effect) · bg управлявам (to operate a machine) · es obrar (to perform a work or labour) · hu okoz ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · ru рабо́тать (to produce a physical effect) · fr œuvrer (to perform a work or labour) · mh bukwabok (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · pt obrar (to perform a work or labour) · de betreiben (to operate a machine) · fi operoida (to deal in stocks) · es operar (to produce a physical effect) · fi suorittaa (to perform a work or labour) · tvl fakatele (to operate a machine) · fi vaikuttaa (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · bg оперирам (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · bg работя (to perform a work or labour) · hu hatást fejt ki ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · ar شَغَّلَ (to operate a machine) · az fəaliyyət göstərmək (to perform a work or labour) · pt operar (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · it lavorare (to perform a work or labour) · hu működik ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · ta இயக்கு (to operate a machine) · fi tehdä (to perform a work or labour) · ru влия́ть (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · grc ἐνεργέω (to perform a work or labour) · ru управля́ть (to operate a machine) · it operare (to produce a physical effect) · bg оперирам (to deal in stocks) · ru вызыва́ть ((''transitive'') to bring about as an effect; to cause) · fr opérer (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · fi operoida (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · it operare ((intransitive) to produce an effect) · de operieren (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · it controllare (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power) · fi leikata (medicine: to perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner) · it manipolare (to produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power)