operation
noun
Simple meaning
The exertion of power, physical, mechanical.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahperayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɑpɚˈeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Process or manner of functioning or operating
“The power of its engine determines its operation.”
uncountable
The method or practice by which actions are done.
uncountable
The act or process of operating (verb): agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
uncountable
The method by which a device performs its function.
A planned activity involving many people performing various actions
countable
A planned undertaking.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Process or manner of functioning or operating
Used this way, operation is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The power of its engine determines its operation.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- procedure , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use operation
- “Her smooth operation of the vehicle gave us a surprisingly comfortable ride.”noun
- “It was a joint operation of the navy and air force.”noun
- “That rule is no longer in operation.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A subroutine or function coded to perform a specific task, but does not return a value.
Manner by which something functions.
The branch of medical science that treats disease or injury by operative procedures.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Financial transactions at a brokerage.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Capable of being treated by surgical operation.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The portion of a set of operation descriptions that specifies the operation to be performed.
The United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991).
Research designed to determine most efficient way to do something.
An operation that follows the rules of Boolean algebra.
An operation that follows the rules of Boolean algebra.
Operations that occur without a regular or predictable time relation to other events.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Involved in a kind of operation.
A symbol or function representing a mathematical operation.
A quantity upon which a mathematical operation is performed.
In respect to operation.
A room in a hospital equipped for the performance of surgical operations.
Table on which the patient lies during a surgical operation.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: process or manner of functioning or operating
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.