operational
- 1Functioning and ready for use.
The hospital's backup generators became operational within seconds of the power failure.
Crews worked overnight to get the rail line fully operational again.
Similarworking, functional, functioning, running, operative
Oppositeinoperative, broken, down
Note
Said of machines, systems and installations that have reached working order: a battle station in George Lucas's Star Wars (1977), or a Class 87 locomotive still running in Bulgaria in 2022. It usually follows a verb (is, becomes, make something operational) and it grades freely, as in fully operational, very much operational and more operational. Compare the "in force" meaning, which applies to rules and agreements rather than to equipment.
- 2Concerned with carrying out operations, particularly in the military.
The briefing covered operational priorities for the coming campaign.
Her role focused on operational logistics rather than frontline combat.
Note
Built from operation plus -al, the word takes in every kind of operation, not only the military one. The Economist, writing on private equity in 2013, speaks of "operational improvement" in the companies a fund owns, and sets it against clever financial ploys. That contrast is a useful test: operational concerns how a thing is actually run, not how it is financed.
- 3
- 4Determined through practical, measurable procedures rather than abstract theory.
Researchers adopted an operational definition of intelligence based on standardized test scores.
Each variable was given an operational measure that other labs could replicate.
Oppositeconceptual, theoretical
Practice
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Origin
Formed from "operation" combined with the suffix "-al".