# operate

Pronunciation: US say "AH-puh-rayt" /ˈɑpəɹeɪt/; UK say "O-puh-rayt" /ˈɒpəɹeɪt/

## Verb

1. To put something, such as a machine or business, into action, or to keep it running.
   - Simple: To make a machine or business work and keep it running.
   - _Only licensed engineers may operate the reactor controls._
   - _The company has operated three warehouses in the region since 2010._
2. Of a business, organization, or group, to conduct its work or activities in a given location or manner.
   - Simple: Of a company or group: to do its work or business in a certain place or way.
   - _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._
3. To perform work or labor; to exert physical or mechanical power; to act.
   - Simple: To work, function or act, often using physical or mechanical power.
   - _The mill's gears operate with surprising quiet for machinery of that age._
   - _The old elevator still operates, though it creaks loudly between floors._
4. To perform a methodical procedure on the body, usually with instruments, in order to restore health, as in surgery.
   - Simple: To do surgery on a person's body to treat an illness or injury.
   - _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._
5. To have an effect or work so as to bring about a result, as a law, a medicine or an influence does.
   - Simple: To have an effect on something or someone, as a law or a medicine 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._
7. To deal in stocks or other commodities in pursuit of speculative profits.
   - Simple: To buy and sell stocks or goods, taking risks in the hope of making money.
   - _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._

## Verb

6. To bring about as an effect; to cause or produce. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To cause something to happen or bring about a change.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/operate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).