operative

American  

[op-er-uh-tiv, op-ruh-tiv, op-uh-ray-tiv] / ˈɒp ər ə tɪv, ˈɒp rə tɪv, ˈɒp əˌreɪ tɪv /

noun

• operatives
  plural

1. a person engaged, employed, or skilled in some branch of work, especially productive or industrial work; worker.

   Synonyms:

   workman

2. a detective.

   Synonyms:

   agent, investigator

3. a secret agent; spy.

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adjective

1. operating, or exerting force, power, or influence.

2. having force; being in effect or operation.

   laws operative in this city.

3. effective or efficacious.

   Synonyms:

   serviceable, effectual

4. engaged in, concerned with, or pertaining to work or productive activity.

5. significant; key.

   The operative word in that sentence is “sometimes.”

6. Medicine/Medical. concerned with, involving, or pertaining to surgical operations.

operative British  

/ ˈɒpərətɪv /

adjective

1. in force, effect, or operation

2. exerting force or influence

3. producing a desired effect; significant

   the operative word

4. of or relating to a surgical procedure

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noun

1. a worker, esp one with a special skill

2. a private detective

Usage

What does operative mean? An operative is a person who is employed in or is skilled in a certain branch of work. Operative is generally used to mean a worker, but in some industries, an operative is specifically a representative or a manager. In the fields of espionage and tactics, an operative is almost always a spy or agent working secretly for an organization. Operative also means detective when used in reference to the police force or private investigation teams. As an adjective, operative often means exerting power or influence. Something that is operative is binding or in effect, such as operative laws or an operative organization that establishes rules. In medicine, operative describes something related to a surgical operation. Operative pain, for example, is pain that occurs from having an operation. Example: A public relations operative informed us that there is an emerging crisis.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interoperative
  noun
• operativeness
  noun
• operativity
  noun
• nonoperative
  adjective
• unoperative
  adjective
• operatively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• operatives
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of operative

1590–1600; < Middle French operatif < Latin operāt ( us ) ( see operate) + Middle French -if -ive

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Explanation

Bond, James Bond, is perhaps the most famous fictional operative of our time. Martini-drinking, globe-trotting, and womanizing aside, let us not forget his primary role as a government secret agent — collecting intelligence and bringing down the world's enemies. As a noun, operative is often used as a synonym for spy. It can also, less covertly, be used to name a skilled worker, as in "No one aligns gears better than Joe, an operative at the car factory." As an adjective, operative can mean that something is working, as in "an operative car alarm." Finally, operative can mean "the most important or effective word." James Bond is a fictional operative, and the operative word in that statement is fictional.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

operative operatives

Trump calls Wiles the "ice maiden" after the Florida political operative masterminded his 2024 election win, and until recently the first ever female chief had maintained steely discipline at the White House.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026

Winstone leads the cast as Alan "Razor" Sharp, an ex-SAS operative, with Cowbridge portraying a town in England.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

From the start, Alice is the viewer’s avatar, at once a skilled security operative and someone with no memory of their past.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

In an age before the internet, before social media, before the cable-TV chat shows and before Carville and the like, Reilly came as close to celebrity as a political operative possibly could.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

We’d come out here to meet Mr. Pinkerton, Mr. Bangs, and the helpful operative who was to portray the wandering book peddler.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

The Israeli military said it had carried out two attacks on what it described as military operatives but has not yet provided evidence or further information.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

They asked their supervisors to approve a new investigation and contemplated using undercover operatives to gather more evidence.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

This was almost hilariously tawdry, but MI5 was beguiled by Lyalin’s many disclosures about KGB operatives in London, made as a way to prove that he was not faking his defection.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four planes on that nearly cloudless day in 2001.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Of the sixty-three reporters who filed into the small auditorium for Stavros Sinclair’s press conference, more than thirty were actually operatives working for various intelligence agencies around the world.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

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