DictionaryAI

operate

verb
AH-puh-rayt/ˈɑpəɹeɪt/UKO-puh-rayt/ˈɒpəɹeɪt/

Formsoperates, operating, operated

7 meanings of operate

Practice

  1. 1
    run (something)verbtransitive
    To put something, such as a machine or business, into action, or to keep it running.

    Only licensed engineers may operate the reactor controls.

    The company has operated three warehouses in the region since 2010.

    UsageThe machine or business comes straight after the verb: operate a crane, operate a restaurant. Operate on a patient means surgery.

    Similarrun, work, use, manage, handle

    Note

    The range is wide: a machine, a system, a casino, a gas-processing facility. It covers both working the controls and running a business.

  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    Of a business, organization, or group, to conduct its work or activities in a given location or manner.

    Many international aid agencies operate in more than forty countries.

    For years the smuggling ring operated in secret out of a warehouse near the docks.

    UsageUsually followed by a place or a way: operate in forty countries, out of a warehouse, on a small budget.

  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To perform work or labor; to exert physical or mechanical power; to act.

    The mill's gears operate with surprising quiet for machinery of that age.

    The old elevator still operates, though it creaks loudly between floors.

    Similarwork, function

    Note

    The workaday sense, closest to the Latin behind the verb: operor, "to work, labor, toil, have effect." Used without an object, it describes how a person, group or system goes about its business: how a meeting operates, how a gang operated, the hours the garbage crews operate. Ask how something operates and you are asking about its methods and routine, not just whether it is running.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The English verb operate derives from Latin operor, through its participle operatus. en.wiktionary.org
    • Latin operor means to work, labor, toil, or have effect. en.wiktionary.org
  4. 4
    surgeryverbintransitive
    To perform a methodical procedure on the body, usually with instruments, in order to restore health, as in surgery.

    Trauma teams often operate within minutes of a patient's arrival.

    The visiting surgeon operated on the cataract using a technique new to the clinic.

    UsageUsually operate on the patient or body part: operate on his knee. In the passive, keep on: he was operated on.

  5. 5
    verbintransitive
    To have an effect or work so as to bring about a result, as a law, a medicine or an influence does.

    The new tax law operates to discourage short-term sales.

    Many forces operate at once in any large organization, often pulling in different directions.

    UsageOften operate to + verb naming the result (operates to discourage sales), or operate on a scale or level.

    Note

    Here the "have effect" strand of the Latin behind the working sense comes forward, and the subject is a force, law or process rather than a worker. Robert L. Dorit, writing in American Scientist in 2012, describes processes that "operate on scales outside of human experience."

Less common meanings

  1. 6
    bring aboutverbdatedtransitive
    To bring about as an effect; to cause or produce.
    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
    Strictures upon style, which are for the most part good, but time has operated a change in many respects even since he wrote.
    1830, Charles Francis Adams Sr., Massachusetts Historical Society: Adams Papers Digital Edition

    Similareffect, produce, cause, work

    Note

    The transitive cousin of the "produce an effect" sense, in which the effect itself becomes the object. That object is typically a noun of change. In Charles Francis Adams Sr.'s papers of 1830, time "operated a change," and William Graham Sumner's Folkways (1906) describes crusades that "operated a beneficial reduction." Nothing is being run here, as with a machine: the object is the result.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Charles Francis Adams Sr. wrote that time "operated a change" in an entry dated March 24, 1830. en.wiktionary.org
    • William Graham Sumner wrote Folkways, first published in 1906. openlibrary.org
    • Folkways contains the quoted wording about crusades operating a beneficial reduction. gutenberg.org
  2. 7
    trade stocksverbintransitive
    To deal in stocks or other commodities in pursuit of speculative profits.

    Several brokers operate in copper futures on behalf of overseas clients.

    During the boom he liked to operate in mining shares, buying on rumors and selling the moment prices jumped.

    Similartrade, speculate, deal

Practice

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Origin

Latin operor ("to work, labor, toil, have effect") had the perfect passive participle operātus, and English built its verb on that form; the participle's ending -ātus is where the English verb-forming suffix -ate comes from.