operation

American  

[op-uh-ray-shuhn] / ˌɒp əˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• operations
  plural

1. 

   an act or instance, process, or manner of functioning or operating.

2. the state of being operative (usually preceded by in orinto ).

   a rule no longer in operation.

3. the power to act; efficacy, influence, or force.

4. the exertion of force, power, or influence; agency.

   the operation of alcohol on the mind.

5. a process of a practical or mechanical nature in some form of work or production.

   a delicate operation in watchmaking.

6. a course or procedure of productive or industrial activity.

   building operations.

7. a particular process or course.

   mental operations.

8. a business transaction, especially one of a speculative nature; deal.

   a shady operation.

9. a business, especially one run on a large scale.

   a multinational operation.

10. Surgery. a procedure aimed at restoring or improving the health of a patient, as by correcting a malformation, removing diseased parts, implanting new parts, etc.

11. Mathematics.

    1. a mathematical process, as addition, multiplication, or differentiation.

    2. the action of applying a mathematical process to a quantity or quantities.

12. Computers. any discrete activity or action that is performed by a computer, as reading, writing, processing, sending, or receiving data.

    The http request operation has timed out.

13. Military.

    1. a campaign, mission, maneuver, or action.

    2. Usually operations the conduct of a campaign, mission, etc.

    3. operations, a headquarters, office, or place from which a military campaign, air traffic to and from an airfield, or any of various other activities, is planned, conducted, and controlled.

    4. operations, the people who work at such a headquarters.

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operation British  

/ ˌɒpəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act, process, or manner of operating

2. the state of being in effect, in action, or operative (esp in the phrases in or into operation )

3. a process, method, or series of acts, esp of a practical or mechanical nature

4. surgery any manipulation of the body or one of its organs or parts to repair damage, arrest the progress of a disease, remove foreign matter, etc

5. 1. a military or naval action, such as a campaign, manoeuvre, etc

   2. ( capital and prenominal when part of a name )

      Operation Crossbow

6. maths

   1. any procedure, such as addition, multiplication, involution, or differentiation, in which one or more numbers or quantities are operated upon according to specific rules

   2. a function from a set onto itself

7. a commercial or financial transaction

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operation Scientific  

/ ŏp′ə-rā′shən /

1. Medicine A surgical procedure for remedying an injury, ailment, defect, or dysfunction.

2. Mathematics A process or action, such as addition, substitution, transposition, or differentiation, performed in a specified sequence and in accordance with specific rules.

3. A logical operation.

4. Computer Science An action resulting from a single instruction.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misoperation
  noun
• preoperation
  noun
• reoperation
  noun
• suboperation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• operations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of operation

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English operacioun, oparacion, operation, from Latin operātiōn- (stem of operātiō ), equivalent to operāt(us) + -iōn- noun suffix of action or condition; see origin at operate

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Explanation

Operation can refer to medical surgery, a military campaign, or mathematical methods, such as multiplication and division. Operation comes from the Latin word opus (“work”) and can refer to a whole range of practical activities and work. In driver's education, you learn the proper operation of a motor vehicle. If you’re going to make your lemonade franchise a success, you’re going to have to learn the rules for prudent operation of a business — how to run it — and you’ll also have to figure out the operation of a lemon squeezer.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

operation operations

At the time, Centcom also confirmed military personnel were allowed to use personal devices in active areas of operation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026

“Our units have for several days now been experiencing significant disruptions in the operation of Starshield,” Zelensky said after meeting Ukrainian military commanders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026

Nvidia’s board already this week launched an independent investigation into whether Huang was the target of a foreign-intelligence operation.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2026

When the superconducting qubit needs that information, it accesses the stored vibrational state, performs the required operation, and returns the modified information to memory.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2026

Six months later, when the Long Island station was finally shut down, Elizebeth learned that the FBI had actually been running it as part of a sting operation to catch Nazi spies.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

The UN Commission has also repeatedly warned about conditions in the country, including the displacement of tens of thousands of people, the deadly battles and the disruption of international humanitarian operations.

From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2026

More than 100 academics may have unwittingly helped China’s espionage operations against Britain, MI5 said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2026

“This has to be a part of mission planning, to be culturally adopted and shift the way we think about conducting operations in the future,” he said, noting that UTS involves “an assembly of sensors.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026

That was a common refrain from leaders of baseball operations departments around the league.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

His skills were recognized by none other than Major George Beckwith, the head of British intelligence operations in America at the end of the war.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

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Related Words

• action
• activity
• affair
• agency
• application
• deal
• effort
• enterprise
• exercise
• force
• movement
• procedure
• process
• service
• transaction
• trip
• use
• work

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