operative
/ˈɒpəɹətɪv/US/ˈɑpəɹətɪv/
operative adjective: effectual or important.
Adjective
operative (comparative more operative, superlative most operative)
- Effectual or important.
- He's usually in a good mood — the operative word there being "usually". Today was a disaster.
- Functional, in working order.
- Having the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects.
- an operative motive
- It holds in all operative principles.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
- Producing the appropriate or designed effect; efficacious.
- an operative dose, rule, or penalty
- Based upon, or consisting of, a surgical operation or operations.
- operative surgery
Noun
operative (plural operatives)
- An employee or other worker with some particular function or skill.
- Practically 50 per cent of the female operatives are found in the two groups aged 15 to 19 and 20 to 24 years, while only 18.2 per cent of the female nonoperatives are found in these age groups.1916, Women in industry series, United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics, page 366
- A spy, secret agent, or detective.
- A participant in an operation.
operative meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
operative in Hindi
- functional
- सक्रिय sakriya
operative in Tamil
- அறுவை சார்ந்த, செயல்முறை சார்ந்த, தொழிலாளி, நடப்பிலுள்ள, நடைமுறையிலுள்ள, செயல்படும்
operative in Marathi
- ऑपरेटिव्ह
operative in Urdu
- فعالی, عامل
More languagesFewer languages
- operative in Bengali
- কার্যকর, ক্রিয়াশীল
- operative in Telugu
- ఆపరేటివ్
- operative in Malayalam
- സാധ്യമായ, തക്കതായ, പ്രവർത്തകമായ
- operative in Kannada
- ಕಾರ್ಯಕಾರಿಯಾದ
- operative in Punjabi
- ਅਪਰੇਟਿਵ, ਓਪਰੇਟਿਵ, ਆਪਰੇਟਿਵ
- operative in Gujarati
- ઓપરેટિવ
- operative in Odia
- ଅପରେଟିଭ୍
- operative in Nepali
- अपरेटिभ, अपरेटिव
Examples of operative in a sentence
- Planes crash rarely, but for the media the operative word is "crash".
- They swept the area for enemy operatives.
- Already, U.S. operatives in both parties have made early efforts at using trolls for political gain.
Forms of operative
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more operative |
| superlative | most operative |
| Noun | |
| plural | operatives |
Origin of operative
From Middle English operative, operatyfe, from Middle French operatif (modern French opératif) or its etymon Latin operātīvus. By surface analysis, operate + -ive.
Words formed from operative
- co-öperative
- cooperative
- co-operative
- Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
- disoperative
- inoperative
- interoperative
- intra-operative
- intraoperative
- microoperative
- nonoperative
- operative clause
- operatively
- Operative Masonry
- operativeness
- operative word
- operativity
- paraoperative
- perioperative
- peri-operative
- peroperative
- post-operative
- postoperative
- preoperative
- pre-operative
- reoperative
- retro-operative
- transoperative
- unco-operative
- unoperative
Phrases with operative
Questions about operative
- What does operative mean?
- Operative means effectual or important.
- What is operative in Hindi?
- Operative in Hindi is सक्रिय (sakriya). See Operative meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is operative?
- Operative can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce operative?
- Operative is pronounced /ˈɒpəɹətɪv/ (UK).
Words near operative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: operative (page history and authors); operative (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operative (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operative (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operative (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operative (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operative (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operative (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operative (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operative (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operative (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operative (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “operative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/operative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.