How to use operate in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb
Operate means to perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act. Example: “Could someone explain how this meeting operates?”
Examples of operate by meaning
verbTo perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.
- Could someone explain how this meeting operates?
- In this town, the garbage removal staff operate between six o'clock at midnight.
- The police had inside knowledge of how the gang operated.
verbTo produce an effect.
- Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 23
verbTo produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (medicine) to take...
- The drug operates by facilitating the negative neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), resulting in the blocking of neural long-term potentiation.2010, Peter A. Frensch, Ralf Schwarzer, Cognition and Neuropsychology
verbTo bring about as an effect; to cause.
- 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, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals, Boston: Ginn...
verbTo perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to...
- The surgeon had to operate on her heart.
- I'm being operated tomorrow.
verbTo put into, or to continue in, operation or activity; to work.
- to operate a machine
- to operate a system
- to operate a casino
More sentences with operate
- A hydraulic press is operated by the differential pressure of water on pistons of different dimensions.From the entry hydraulic
- My grandfather worked in a mill. He operated machinery, did maintenance, and drove forklifts.From the entry mill
- The 11:10 to London was operated by a 4-car diesel multiple unit.From the entry car
- The US operates a string of military bases in countries throughout the world.From the entry string
- You had better stand back and let me operate the chainsaw.From the entry stand back
- We currently operate only in EU countries but we're building prototype services for various geographies.From the entry geography
- His hands were too fat to operate the dial on the telephone.From the entry dial
- The surgeon refused to operate because the patient was her son.From the entry surgeon
- New Zealand Railways Road Services used to operate a large fleet of Bedfords.From the entry Bedford
- A windmill transmits motion to the ground level via a vertical driveshaft, which operates a water pump.From the entry driveshaft
- When a group operates as a heterarchy, everyone is a leader in their own domain.From the entry heterarchy
- Jack dumped core on how to operate the server before he left on holiday.From the entry dump core
- This bus route cannot be operated by double-deckers, as there is a low bridge along the route.From the entry low bridge
- Example Usage: The Digitizer operated at a speed of 10 MSPS.From the entry MSPS
- Choosing such an unqualified person to operate the machine is an accident-in-waiting.From the entry -in-waiting
- This is a heavy-duty fridge that operates on a higher power level than most households can supply.From the entry power level
- In my first job, I learned how to operate a till and to face the store to high standards.From the entry face
- The town dog-catcher operates the kennel for strays.From the entry kennel
- The school operates on a trimester schedule.From the entry trimester
- These criminals operate through an underground network.From the entry underground
- Eurostar operates two stations in this region.From the entry Eurostar
- Modulation often requires that amplifiers operate below saturation.From the entry saturation
- As far as the policies and procedures under which these companies operate, we keep a very close eye on that.From the entry as far as
- An evacuated bellows and mechanical linkage operates an aneroid barometer.From the entry aneroid
- Some well-known airlines also operate scheduled all-cargo flights.From the entry all-cargo
- You shouldn't operate heavy machinery without a licence.From the entry heavy machinery
- Much of online campaigning now operates through vibe politics, where tone and symbolism matter more than policy detail.From the entry vibe politics
- It's dark because the trip operated.From the entry trip
- In a famous movie about time travel, the mad scientist tells the teenage hero that the time machine requires 1.21 gigawatts of power to operate.From the entry gigawatt
Meaning of operate
- verb To perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.
- verb To produce an effect.
- verb To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (medicine) to take appropriate effect on the human system.
Questions about operate in a sentence
- How do you use operate in a sentence?
- Operate is used as a verb. For example: “Could someone explain how this meeting operates?”
- What is a short sentence with operate?
- “I'm being operated tomorrow.”
- What does operate mean?
- Operate means to perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: operate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use operate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/operate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.