operator
noun
Simple meaning
A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise help callers.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahperayterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɑpɚeɪtɚ
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
A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers.
mathematics
A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range.
uncountable
The game of Chinese whispers.
informal
Someone who owns or operates a business
“Who is the operator of this franchise?”
informal
A shrewd or unscrupulous person who knows how to circumvent difficulties
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
Used this way, operator is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use operator
- “Who is the operator of this franchise?”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
Related to A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A gene that activates the production of messenger RNA by adjacent structural genes.
An operator of an elevator.
A logical quantifier of a proposition that asserts the existence of at least one thing for which the proposition is true.
An operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates.
An operator that obeys the distributive law: A(f+g) = Af + Ag (where f and g are functions).
Someone who sells newspapers.
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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.