operator

[ op-uh-rey-ter ]
See synonyms for: operatoroperators on Thesaurus.com

noun
  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.

  1. a person who manages a working or industrial establishment, enterprise, or system: the operators of a mine.

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

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

  4. Mathematics.

    • a symbol for expressing a mathematical operation.

    • a function, especially one transforming a function, set, etc., into another: a differential operator.

  5. Informal.

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

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

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

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

Origin of operator

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Late Latin, equivalent to operā(rī) “to work, effect” (see operate) + Latin -tor noun suffix (see -tor)

Other words from operator

  • pre·op·er·a·tor, noun
  • self-op·er·a·tor, noun

Words Nearby operator

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use operator in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for operator

operator

/ (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

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

  2. informal a person who manipulates affairs and other people

  3. 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

Scientific definitions for operator

operator

[ ŏpə-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.

  1. 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.