Word.ws English Dictionary

operator

Syllables: op·er·ator/ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/US/ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/

operator noun: a person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.

Noun

operator (countable and uncountable, plural operators)

  1. A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
    • The drone crashed because of operator error.
    • The new bus operator has promised to improve the frequency of rural services.
  2. A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers.
    • To get an international line, you used to have to go through the operator.
    • I kept getting "number unobtainable", so I called the operator to find out what was going on.
  3. A member of a military special operations unit.
  4. A surgeon; one who performs medical operations.
    • Oh, a very well-known man. He has a great reputation as an operator for peritonitis.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
  5. (uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
  6. (informal) A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods.
    • Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit.
      Tim Stamper: Shame. Used to be a hell of an operator in his day.1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1
  7. A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range.
  8. The administrator of a channel or network on IRC.
  9. A symbol that represents a construct in a programming language and differs from a normal function in its syntax.
  10. A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable.
    • In the sentence "What did Bill say he wants to buy?", "what" is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable.
  11. A bus driver.
  12. (by ellipsis) The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (slang) A thief or charlatan.
    • Sir Ol. Sirrah! I got many a round Sum by it, when my Father wou'd not give me a Groat—Then, Sir, I was in with all the Top Gameſters, and when there was a fat Squire to be fleec'd; I had my Office among them too, and tho' I ſay it, was one of the neateſt Operators about Town.1709 January 11, Colley Cibber, “The Rival Fools: […]”, in Mr. Cibber's Plays, volume II, London: […] B. Lintot […], published 1721, page 104
    • Hank was saying, "Lyssa showed me the screenshots of Nate's accounts, so we know he's helping himself to Nate's money every month. The guy's a real operator."2016, C. T. Collier, Planted, Scottsdale, A.Z.: Asdee Press, →ISBN, page 301
  2. (slang) A major criminal.
    • He started bleating to me this morning aboot being stretched on this hippy stalk. A fuckin waste of time. Big operators flooding the city with smack and three-quarters of the cunts we bang up are daft schemies or students with a wee bit of hash or a few pills for their pals.1998, Irvine Welsh, Filth, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 140
    • The second thing is that smart operators like Cocky are only in it for the (huge amounts of) money.2000 May 14, John Sweeney, “Cocky”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2023
  3. (dated, slang) Someone who is successful at pursuing women; a player.
    • I give credit to men who are great operators, as we once called them, with the girls. Once I was interviewing one of the most beautiful girls in the world in her suite at the Hotel Plaza. While she was busily denying to me that there was anything serious in her relationship with Warren Beatty, who...1974, Earl Wilson, Show Business Laid Bare, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 188
    • "Of course you're right, but the Baron is unfortunately a bit of an operator, if you know what I mean. He likes the ladies," said Salvatore with a wicked grin. "So he never gets in until two, sometimes even three in the morning, and that's because he goes dancing at the Mela; he's quite a playboy."1988 [1977], Luciano De Crescenzo, translated by Avril Bardoni, Thus Spake Bellavista: Naples, Love, and Liberty, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 101

operator meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

operator in Hindi

one who operates
संचालक sañcālak
the administrator of a channel or network on IRC
संचालक sañcālak

operator in Tamil

செய்குநர், இயக்கி, செய்கருவி, நிரல்செயலி, அறுவை மருந்துவர், இயந்திர செய்குநர்

operator in Marathi

ऑपरेटर, प्रचालक

operator in Urdu

عامل, فاعل, جراح
More languagesFewer languages
operator in Bengali
অপারেটর, চালক, অস্ত্রচিকিত্সক, কার্যকারী
operator in Telugu
ఆపరేటర్
operator in Malayalam
പ്രവർത്തകൻ, ശസ്ത്രക്രിയാവിദഗ്ദ്ധൻ, നടത്തിപ്പുകാരൻ, സംകാരകം
operator in Kannada
ಆಪರೇಟರ್
operator in Punjabi
ਅਪਰੇਟਰ, ਸੰਚਾਲਕ, ਓਪਰੇਟਰ
operator in Gujarati
ઓપરેટર
operator in Odia
ଅପରେଟର
operator in Nepali
अपरेटर, प्रचालक
operator in Tagalog
pakilos
operator in Persian
عملگر 'amalgar, عملیپتال, اپراتور operâtor, تلفنچی telefonči
operator in Vietnamese
toán tử

Examples of operator in a sentence

  • I give credit to men who are great operators, as we once called them, with the girls.1974, Earl Wilson, Show Business Laid Bare, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 188:
  • Plenty of girls for an operator like you.1996, George P. Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 298:

All 40 example sentences with operator

Forms of operator

pluraloperators

Plural of operator: operators

Origin of operator

Borrowed from Latin operātor, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.

Words formed from operator

Phrases with operator

51 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about operator

What does operator mean?
Operator means a person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
What is operator in Hindi?
Operator in Hindi is संचालक (sañcālak). See Operator meaning in Hindi.
How do you use operator in a sentence?
I give credit to men who are great operators, as we once called them, with the girls.
What part of speech is operator?
Operator is a noun.
How do you pronounce operator?
Operator is pronounced /ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/ (UK).
What is the plural of operator?
The plural of operator is operators.

Words near operator in the dictionary

  1. operativity
  2. operatize
  3. operatized
  4. operatizes
  5. operatizing
  6. operator
  7. operator theory
  8. operatorial
  9. operatories
  10. operatorless
  11. operators

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: operator (page history and authors); operator (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operator (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operator (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operator (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); operator (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); operator (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-operator.wav.

Cite this entry: “operator.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/operator. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.