operating system
the collection of software that directs a computer's operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbreviation: OS
Origin of operating system
1Words Nearby operating system
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use operating system in a sentence
If you get a new computer—or you update your operating system or browser—it’s worth giving yourself a video call dry run to make sure everything is still authorized in advance.
Google’s new Green Room feature gets you camera-ready before video meetings | Stan Horaczek | February 8, 2021 | Popular-ScienceAlthough the keypad incorporates a Mac layout, it’s also compatible with Windows operating systems.
Best mechanical keyboard: Game, code, type, and work smoother and faster | PopSci Commerce Team | February 4, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThe most serious flaw allows unprivileged users to remotely execute code that takes complete control of the underlying operating system.
SolarWinds patches vulnerabilities that could allow full system control | Dan Goodin | February 4, 2021 | Ars TechnicaJobs revolutionized computing when he introduced the iPhone, a product that for the first time transformed a phone into a computer with an independent operating system and a novel keyboard-free interface.
With Bezos out as Amazon CEO, Zuckerberg is the last man standing | Elizabeth Dwoskin | February 3, 2021 | Washington PostIn June, when Apple unveiled its latest mobile operating system, iOS 14, it made a bombshell announcement that the privacy community applauded.
On iPhones, Facebook and Apple begin a war of pop-up messages | Reed Albergotti | February 1, 2021 | Washington Post
If you answered nine or more, you may have won a SONY Betamax and an eight-track operating system.
Like the Scarlett Johansson-voiced operating system in Her, she just became too expansive for you.
The plan is to build a holistic cloud operating system for businesses and individuals, enabling a new generation of work and play.
Nor did Microsoft transform its proprietary operating system into open-source code.
Tesla’s Radical Patent Move is a Plot to Take Over the Road | Daniel Gross | June 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIts prescient move to develop the Android operating system is reaping benefits, as it dominates the smartphone market.
Yahoo! and Twitter Results Show Difficulties of Online Advertising Business | William O’Connor | October 16, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAny program whose name starts with $SYS$ is invisible to the operating system.
Little Brother | Cory DoctorowThe larger machines will be supplied with some sort of operating system (monitor), either for batch or time-shared operation.
On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969 | H. W. Fulbright et al.In a few years these roads had been consolidated into a smoothly operating system.
The Age of Big Business | Burton J. Hendrick
British Dictionary definitions for operating system
the set of software that controls the overall operation of a computer system, typically by performing such tasks as memory allocation, job scheduling, and input/output control
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for operating system
[ ŏp′ə-rā′tĭng ]
Software designed to handle basic elements of computer operation, such as sending instructions to hardware devices like disk drives and computer screens, and allocating system resources such as memory to different software applications being run. Given uniformly designed operating systems that run on many different computers, developers of software do not need to concern themselves with these problems, and are provided with a standard platform for new programs.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for operating system
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse