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operatory

American

[op-er-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈɒp ər əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

noun

a room or other area with special equipment and facilities, as for dental surgery, scientific experiments, or the like.

adjective

operative.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

operatories

plural

Etymology

Origin of operatory

1645–55; operate + -ory ¹, -ory ²; compare Late Latin operātōrius working, acting

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

operatories

About 2,000 Americans, many desperately ill, have visited the Huggins Diagnostic Center, where a team of five dentists pulled out fillings in two custom-made "bubble operatories" designed to minimize exposure to toxins.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Dental Hospital has 16 individual "operatories," ten general, and six specially equipped for more difficult surgery.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.