How to use operative in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun
Operative means effectual or important. Example: “He's usually in a good mood — the operative word there being "usually". Today was a disaster.”
Examples of operative by meaning
adjectiveEffectual or important.
- He's usually in a good mood — the operative word there being "usually". Today was a disaster.
adjectiveHaving the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects.
- an operative motive
- This call is operative not merely on the level of abstract theory.1988 April 2, Phillip Brian Harper, “Lesbians and gay men of color, speak out!”, in Gay Community News, page 9
adjectiveProducing the appropriate or designed effect; efficacious.
- an operative dose, rule, or penalty
nounAn 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
More sentences with operative
- Planes crash rarely, but for the media the operative word is "crash".From the entry operative word
- They swept the area for enemy operatives.From the entry for
- Already, U.S. operatives in both parties have made early efforts at using trolls for political gain.2019 November 19, Shashank Bengali, Evan Halper, “Troll armies, a growth industry in the Philippines, may soon be coming to an election…. From the entry troll
- The main reasons are technical difficulties in adhesiolysis and prolonged operative time.2015 July 24, Ik Yong Kim, “Impact of Prior Abdominal Surgery on Rates of Conversion to Open Surgery and Short-Term Outcomes after…. From the entry adhesiolysis
- The text's indecidability is elaborated in terms of and as an operative feature of its textuality.2013, Hugh J. Silverman, Textualities, page 80. From the entry indecidability
- It was the Amazing Dennis “Full” Price, another of our licensed operatives.2011, Jasper Fforde, Song of the Quarkbeast. From the entry unidentical
- Iskander's role as a G.A.M. operative was secret—until I unwittingly blew his cover that day.2007 February 15, Andrew Marshall, “The Escape Artist”, in Time, retrieved 06 Jul 2015. From the entry blow someone's cover
- Such an operative might also be the contact for one or more "missionaries" or labour spies.2003, Charles H. McCormick, Seeing Reds, page 45. From the entry roper
- The sororate was operative during the feudal period, at least among the feudal lords.1967, Han-chi Fêng, The Chinese Kinship System, page 46. From the entry sororate
- I chased a series of documents alleging that Catto was murdered by an operative of the Democratic Party.2022, Lightning Jay, “Constructing Local History Units with Document-Based Lessons”, in The History Teacher, volume 5, number 2, page 340. From the entry hit job
- In the study by Walen et al., the subplatysmal skin flaps were completely raised before the operative time was recorded.2015 July 11, “The Harmonic Scalpel versus Conventional Hemostasis for Neck Dissection: A Meta-Analysis of the Randomized Controlled…. From the entry subplatysmal
- An oblique view of the operative field may predispose the surgeon to skive unilaterally toward a vertebral artery.2013, Daniel H. Kim, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Curtis A. Dickman, Surgical Anatomy and Techniques to the Spine E-Book, →ISBN, page 135. From the entry skive
- The details of the items are drawn from the high-tech outfits it makes for SWAT Teams, CIA operatives and war snipers.2012 October 10, James Covert, “Massif’s combat wear goes upscale”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived…. From the entry sportjacket
- It indicates targets, locales, and tactics chosen by ecoterror operatives.2004, Lynne L. Snowden, Bradley C. Whitsel, Terrorism: Research, Readings, and Realities. From the entry ecoterror
- Although the CSM has few lines, metaphorically he represents all the secret U.S. operatives of the cold war and after.2001, Ray Pratt, Projecting Paranoia: Conspiratorial Visions in American Film, page 232. From the entry CSM
- The guide arms can rock forward into an operative position of their own or back into a nonoperative position.1996, David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, Simon and…. From the entry nonoperative
- But now, I have retained counsel, hired a private operative and am hot on the heels of the perpetrator.1989 July 9, Thomas Boswell, “There’s Joy in Birdland”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN…. From the entry oh, me of little faith
- Except in cases of extreme prematurity or debilitation, operative treatment is indicated urgently but nonemergently, with little merit in delay.1982, Linda C. Stehling, Common problems in pediatric anesthesia, page 98. From the entry nonemergently
- We must, in short, employ a special bracket for operative relations ; and the square bracket is the most convenient.1905, Royal Irish Academy, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, page 33. From the entry square bracket
- Others suggested—either seriously or in jest—that Freddy was a CIA operative: “Back to Langley I’m afraid.” Last night, he deactivated his X account.2026 July 1, Will Oremus, “So Long to America’s Favorite Everymensch”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The…. From the entry langley
- Voice picking, or voice-directed warehousing (VDW), allows warehouse operatives to perform tasks through verbal commands, eliminating the need for handheld scanners or paper pick lists.2025 May 2, Mol Doak, “Voice Picking Technology Set to Revolutionise UK Warehousing in 2025”, in News Today, United Kingdom, archived from…. From the entry voice-directed warehousing
- The automatic divaricator is placed between the ribs and the operative field is expanded by rotating the lever of the automatic divaricator (see Figure 7.1).2024, Henri Kolani, Esophageal Cancer Surgery: Akiyama Procedure, pages 7-1. From the entry divaricator
- Operative findings included a much thickened infraserratus bursa ( Figure 3 ) with extensive transbursal adhesions extending from the mid-to-upper aspect of the medial scapula.2015 July 26, John G. Skedros, Tanner D. Langston, Colton M. Phippen, “Surgical Correction of Posttraumatic Scapulothoracic Bursitis…. From the entry transbursal
- Bunkering is comprised of a complex network of engineers, welders, intelligence and armed security operatives, boat and ship captains, pumpers, handlers, and traders.2015, Hannah Appel, Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas, page 79. From the entry bunkerer
- Once he'd spotted one operative, others came clear to him: in trees, behind logs, even staring out in one uncareful moment from the cottage itself.2014, Jeff VanderMeer, Authority. From the entry uncareful
- A gang of armed operatives attacked the car of Abdus S Attar, the chief editor of The Daily Isfulinga at Ghop in Jessore district town.2005, Moonis Ahmar, Violence and Terrorism in South Asia: Chronology and Profiles, 1971-2004. From the entry Ghop
- All the new interns had heard of his operative speed, his finesse under the attending's glare, and his memorization of the current surgical literature.2002, Harry Lee Kraus, Could I Have This Dance?, page 45. From the entry attending
- Operative treatment should be reserved for those patients in whom conservative treatment has failed and who are motivated with regard to sports.2000, G. Puddu et al., “Achilles Tendon Injuries”, in The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine, →ISBN, page 200. From the entry conservative
- In the operative position a guide arm will contact lugs, but if either lugs or guide arms are nonoperative no contact will take place.1996, David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, Simon and…. From the entry nonoperative
- Osborn was involved in the liquidation program and cites an example of a Vietnamese operative being liquidated with extreme prejudice on orders from higher headquarters.1971, American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 575. From the entry extreme prejudice
- 'Two top operatives flying down tonight.1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 151. From the entry stoolie
- You must expect to lose from 40% to 60% of all acute post operative ileuses, and about 20% of your sub-acute cases.1921, Western Osteopathic Association et al., The Western osteopath, volume 16, page 20. From the entry ileus
- Kobe was a shambles; the slaughter of the cotton operatives by machine-guns became classic as the most terrific execution ever achieved by modern war machines.1908 February 19, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC. From the entry war machine
- The state’s police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun told CNN in a statement that operatives arrested 11 armed “hoodlums” who set fire to a government building after looting it.2024 August 1, Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, “Violence erupts as Nigerians protest hunger across the nation”, in CNN. From the entry hoodlum
- At the beginning of the opening game, Shepard becomes the first human Spectre, an elite operative given broad authority to neutralize threats to galactic order in the galaxy.2019, “Mass Effect (Trilogy)”, in Michael M. Levy, Farah Mendlesohn, editors, Aliens in Popular Culture, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC…. From the entry neutralize
Meaning of operative
- adjective Effectual or important.
- adjective Functional, in working order.
- adjective Having the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects.
Questions about operative in a sentence
- How do you use operative in a sentence?
- Operative is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “He's usually in a good mood — the operative word there being "usually". Today was a disaster.”
- What is a short sentence with operative?
- “an operative motive”
- What does operative mean?
- Operative means effectual or important.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: operative (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 operative in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/operative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
