operating
Americanadjective
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used or engaged in performing operations.
an operating surgeon.
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of, for, or pertaining to operations.
an operating budget.
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of or relating to the proper operation of a machine, appliance, etc..
a manual of operating instructions.
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Railroads. of, pertaining, or belonging to railroad workers, as engineers or firemen, who are directly engaged in the mechanical operation of trains.
an operating union.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of operating
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.
Teng mostly avoids on-camera interviews with her subjects, preferring to watch them interacting with patients or in the operating room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The Cape Newenham site on Alaska's south-west coast is part of the Alaska Radar System, a network of remote sites that monitor aircraft approaching or operating in Alaskan airspace.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The arrangement may not be elegant or even rational, but it keeps hospitals operating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Aerial support crews, grounded by bad weather earlier in the week, hoped to keep operating until nightfall, when civil protection drones would take over the task of monitoring for "potential flare-ups," the governor's statement said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The guardian whom McAuliffe suspected of killing his grandmother was a prominent attorney working for the tribe who never interfered with the criminal networks operating under his nose.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
