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definitions

operator

[op-uh-rey-ter]
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noun

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RELATED WORDS

driver, engineer, administrator, executive, supervisor, speculator, manager, dealer, agent, broker, operative, director, fraud, scoundrel, hustler, conductor, operant

Nearby words

  1. operations research,
  2. operations room,
  3. operative,
  4. operatively,
  5. operatize,
  6. operator gene,
  7. operatory,
  8. opercle,
  9. operculate,
  10. operculitis

Origin of operator

1590–1600; < Late Latin, equivalent to operā(rī) to work, effect (see operate) + Latin -tor -tor
Related formspre·op·er·a·tor, nounself-op·er·a·tor, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for operator

British Dictionary definitions for operator

operator

noun

a person who operates a machine, instrument, etc, esp, a person who makes connections on a telephone switchboard or at an exchange
a person who owns or operates an industrial or commercial establishment
a speculator, esp one who operates on currency or stock markets
informal a person who manipulates affairs and other people
maths any symbol, term, letter, etc, used to indicate or express a specific operation or process, such as Δ (the differential operator)
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
Word Origin and History for operator

operator

n.

1590s, "one who performs mechanical or surgical operations," agent noun from operate (v.) or from Late Latin operator. Meaning "one who carries on business shrewdly" is from 1828. Specific sense of "one who works a telephone switchboard" (1884) grew out of earlier meaning "one who works a telegraph" (1847).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for operator

operator

[ŏp′ə-rā′tər]

n.

An operator gene.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Science definitions for operator

operator

[ŏp′ə-rā′tər]

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.
A logical operator.
Genetics A segment of chromosomal DNA that regulates the activity of the structural genes of an operon by interacting with a specific repressor.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.