operator

American  

[op-uh-rey-ter] / ˈɒp əˌreɪ tər /

noun

• operators
  plural

1. a person who operates a machine, apparatus, or the like.

   a telegraph operator.

2. a person who operates a telephone switchboard, especially for a telephone company.

3. a person who manages a working or industrial establishment, enterprise, or system.

   the operators of a mine.

4. a person who trades in securities, especially speculatively or on a large scale.

5. a person who performs a surgical operation; a surgeon.

6. Mathematics.

   1. a symbol for expressing a mathematical operation.

   2. a function, especially one transforming a function, set, etc., into another.

      a differential operator.

7. Informal.

   1. a person who accomplishes goals or purposes by devious means; faker; fraud.

   2. a person who is adroit at overcoming, avoiding, or evading difficulties, regulations, or restrictions.

   3. a person who is extremely successful with or smoothly persuasive to potential sexual or romantic partners.

8. Genetics. a segment of DNA that interacts with a regulatory molecule, preventing transcription of the adjacent region.

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operator British  

/ ˈɒpəˌreɪtə /

noun

1. a person who operates a machine, instrument, etc, esp, a person who makes connections on a telephone switchboard or at an exchange

2. a person who owns or operates an industrial or commercial establishment

3. a speculator, esp one who operates on currency or stock markets

4. informal a person who manipulates affairs and other people

5. maths any symbol, term, letter, etc, used to indicate or express a specific operation or process, such as Δ (the differential operator)

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operator Scientific  

/ ŏp′ə-rā′tər /

1. Mathematics A function, especially one from a set to itself, such as differentiation of a differentiable function or rotation of a vector. In quantum mechanics, measurable quantities of a physical system, such as position and momentum, are related to unique operators applied to the wave equation describing the system.

2. A logical operator.

3. Genetics A segment of chromosomal DNA that regulates the activity of the structural genes of an operon by interacting with a specific repressor.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preoperator
  noun
• self-operator
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• operators
  plural

Etymology

Origin of operator

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Late Latin, equivalent to operā(rī) “to work, effect” ( see operate) + Latin -tor noun suffix ( see -tor)

Explanation

An operator is a person who runs a machine, equipment, or a vehicle. If you want to be a jackhammer operator some day, you might hope to work on a road crew of for a construction company. An operator operates, or controls, something. You could be a radio operator, a heavy machinery operator, or even a telephone operator — or you can be the operator, or manager, of a business. If you start your own dog walking company, you can call yourself an "owner-operator." The Latin root of both operator and operate is operari, "to work," and "to cause."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

operator operators

The chosen groups include the country’s two largest telecom companies and the operator of Kakao, South Korea’s so-called “everything app.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

He tried the tour operator and then the two managers accompanying the group.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

By early Tuesday, 7,250 household across the Languedoc-Roussillon region were without power including 1,600 in Aude, said grid operator Enedis.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

“We’ve been working diligently to try to get them back onto their longtime home … and the operator of the farmers market, the Cornucopia Foundation, has refused to leave, and that’s illegal,” Myerhoff said Friday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

The most likely person to want to remind me of that day wouldn’t be a fellow operator, or even the commanding officer whose orders I flubbed.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Some of the smaller, privately held operators have used the current boom as an opportunity to pay down debt rather than focusing on getting ahead, he added.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

Though the drone was programmed to travel to a particular gas station by human operators, its final target mostly likely was selected by the weapon’s own internal system.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

In the state’s Midcoast and Downeast regions, about a dozen tour operators have sprung up to serve the burgeoning puffin-cruise business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Concerned tourism operators in some US border states are rolling out the red carpet with discounts for Canadians.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Between that and the usual cillies, we’ve got two big clues about how German operators have their Enigmas set up today.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• agent
• broker
• dealer
• driver
• manager