operativeadj.n.
/ˈɒp(ə)rətɪv/, U.S. /ˈɑp(ə)rədɪv/ A. adj.
1.
a. Characterized by operating or working; being in operation or force; (also) exerting force or influence, or active in producing or having the power to produce effects; productive of something.(Law) designating the part of a document which expresses the intention to effect the transaction concerned.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > [adjective] > in operation
workfulOE
operant?a1425
operative?a1425
inworking1587
energetical1595
afloat1604
working1609
energetic1629
active1641
energizing1751
energic1786
operating1825
functioning1835
running1842
functionating1884
functional1892
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 3v Þis crafte [sc. surgery] is practicale & operatiue [a1500 Cambr. operatif; L. operatiua].
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 1484 (MED) The passivis haue some actyuyte, As in handcraftes men dayly see; In baking, brewing, & other craftis alle, Moysture is operatyfe, & so drynes be shalle.
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 147 Hire actif lif and operative excellit all uthire creature.
1591 R. Hill tr. W. Perkins Golden Chaine vi. sig. B3 Gods operatiue permission, is that by which he only permitteth one and the same work to be done of others, as it is euill; but as it is good, he effectually worketh the same.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 847 Animals which are called unreasonable and brute beasts, are endued with reason; howbeit they are not operative with that reason, neither can they actuate it.
1608 M. Fotherby Fovre Serm. 29 Euen bare reading..may be..as operative of all true Christian vertues, as their most adorned or impassioned sermons.
1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. iii. 31 Whether the Act or Statute of Separation were operative or declarative, creating new right, or manifesting, or restoring old right.
c1705 G. Berkeley Commonplace Bk. in Wks. (1871) IV. 478 Enquiring and judging are actions which depend on the operative faculties.
1793 N. Chipman Rep. & Diss. ii. 144 Any species of conveyance, which contains words, operative at common law to convey, will be equally valid.
1865 G. Grote Plato I. iv. 135 The motive to preserve the Platonic MSS. would still be operative.
1872 in J. Russell Rep. Cases High Court of Chancery V. 344 If the operative part of a deed be doubtfully expressed, there the recital may safely be referred to as a key to the intention of the parties; but where the operative part of the deed uses language which admits of no doubt, it cannot be controlled by the recital.
1879 G. MacDonald Paul Faber II. ix. 164 The strongest and most operative sense of duty would not satisfy you.
1925 G. C. Cheshire Mod. Law Real Property 601 We will now turn to the operative words of the conveyance.
1967 G. Dworkin Colgers' Constr. Deeds & Statutes 160 After the rentals the operative part of a deed begins, generally with the words ‘Now this deed witnesseth,’ etc.
1991 Internat. Jrnl. Project Managem. Feb. 24/1 The lunchbreak alone was too short, with discussions invariably overflowing into the working hours after lunch, or worse—the circle being unable to complete a thorough discussion and agree on operative conclusions.
b. Of a word, etc.: essential to the meaning of the whole; of principal relevance.
ΚΠ
1656 R. Vines Treat. Inst. Lords-Supper vi. 81 Those operative and conversive words.
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. iv. 53 Dedi et concessi; which are still the operative words in our modern infeodations or deeds of feoffment.
1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 375/2 The operative words of release are remise, release, renounce, and for ever quit claim.
1882 C. Sweet Dict. Eng. Law In a conveyance, lease or other deed dealing with property, that part which follows the operative words is called the parcels.
1944 Downside Rev. 62 185 The prefix ‘in-’ of ‘inscape’ is the operative part.
1963 N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) ii. 43 ‘It was nice getting your occasional letters,’ Patrick said, presently. ‘Operative word “occasional”.’
1994 Midwest Home & Design Spring 72/1 ‘Up’ was the operative word in this remarkable Edina project.
c. Of principles, political ideas, etc.: (a) capable of being put into effect; likely to be beneficial; (b) didactic, esp. based on practical experience or personal knowledge. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > [adjective] > type of political principle or idea
operative1938
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic unit or constituent > [adjective] > of constituent: essential
operative1938
1938 H. G. Wells Brothers iii. 46 Competent receiver and operative form; two phrases for two problems that Socialism and Communism ought to have tackled forty years ago.
1954 A. Koestler Invisible Writing ii. 28 The tendency of the novel had to be ‘operative’, that is, didactic; each work of art must convey a social message.
1954 A. Koestler Invisible Writing xx. 224 It is called the ‘operative principle’. It means that you cannot write about the strategy of Communism without having worked in a factory, or Party cell, or underground organisation.
d. In weakened sense (without reference to specific activity or production): significant, important.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective]
important1444
substantious1483
sore1530
relevantc1540
importing1579
of great (little, etc.) weight1581
grave1594
dear1598
consequentious1634
concerning1641
of concern1651
consequent1659
weighty1662
interesting1711
capital1724
consequential1728
magnitudinous1777
makulu1899
operative1955
1955 J. L. Austin MS Lect. Notes: How to do Things with Words (Bodl. Eng. Misc. c. 394) f. 41 But ‘operative’..is often used nowadays to mean little more than ‘important’.
1979 Gourmet Dec. 26/1 He prepares it [sc. scampi dragoncello] by sautéing large shrimp with white wine, shallots, a light marinara sauce, and just enough dragoncello (the operative herb) to make its presence tactfully felt.
1990 J. K. Galbraith Financial Euphoria (1993) vii. 106 The circumstances that induce the recurrent lapses into financial dementia have not changed in any truly operative fashion.
2. Effective, efficacious; productive of the intended effect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > [adjective]
frameeOE
goodeOE
mightyOE
vailanta1325
sicker1338
mightful1340
suffisant1340
virtuousa1387
effectivea1398
effectuala1398
worthya1398
availingc1420
effectuous?a1425
operant?a1425
substantialc1449
virtual?a1475
substantious1483
available1502
efficacious1528
energial1528
working1532
operatory1551
operatoriousa1555
stately1567
feckful1568
efficace?1572
shifty1585
operative1590
instrumental1601
efficable1607
speeding1612
effectuating1615
officious1618
availsome1619
prevailable1624
valid1651
perficient1659
affectuous1664
implemental1676
virtual1760
efficient1787
sufficient1831
slick1833
roadworthy1837
practician1863
positive1903
performant1977
1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 21 No..prescription is of necessitie here set downe, but if the disease hasten to concoction, may the better be curable, and operatiue, both in meicine and nature, although opportunitie was omitted in the first beginning of the sicknesse.
1660 Bp. J. Taylor Worthy Communicant ii. §2. 137 If these desires be..as operative as they are inquisitive..then we shall perceive the blessings and fruits of our holy desires.
1765 Boston Post-boy & Advertiser 26 Aug. 3 So operative was the Poison of this venemous Reptile, that it was thought almost impossible he should survive it.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. iv. viii. 277 Fraud was an operative instrument in the hands of this aspiring general.
1879 A. Trollope in 19th Cent. Jan. 38 The judgment..is not operative against the reading of novels.
1975 S. Heaney North 12 In fights I arrange a fall on the ring To rub myself with sand That is operative As an elixir.
1987 K. Ward Images of Eternity ii. 50 The idea of Brahman functions not as a purely speculative doctrine... What is important is its operative force: that is: the difference it makes to conduct.
3. Concerned with manual or mechanical work; practical.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > work > [adjective] > manual
manual?1406
handly?a1425
mechanicalc1450
handy1535
mechanicc1550
handicraft1559
manuary1576
operative1624
chiroponal1651
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 1 In Architecture, as in all other Operative Arts, the End must direct the Operation.
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers v. iv. 401 In every operative art, the tools, instruments, materials..must have general names.
1827 H. Steuart Planter's Guide (1828) 480 I should wish to see them employ, for the operative part, none but the most experienced Foresters that can be had.
1899 Whitaker's Almanack 163/2 Mint..Superintendent Operative Department.
1978 Harvard Business Rev. (Nexis) Nov. 81 Professional positions will remain scarce, and the expanded demands of the 1960s for engineers, scientists, and teachers..will remain history. Clerical, sales, service, and operative workers are expected to be in demand.
2002 Morning Star (Wilmington) (Nexis) 11 Sept. (Local section) b3 For 38 years she was an inspector in the operative department and for the last 18 years has enjoyed continuous retirement.
4. Of the nature of or involving a surgical operation; resulting from a surgical operation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > [adjective] > relating to operation
operated1729
operative1783
1783 P. Pott Chirurg. Wks. (new ed.) II. 7 The operative part of the arts.
1845 J. Saunders Cabinet Pictures of Eng. Life: Chaucer 181 Serapion Senior..treats of diseases as curative solely by medicine and diet, omitting operative surgery.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 31 The prospect of much benefit from treatment other than operative is practically nil.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 19 Aug. 429/2 The author developed an operative correction of the anterior (overgrown) portions of the bodies of the involved vertebrae in scoliosis.
1993 Brit. Jrnl. Surg. 80 143/2 Patients selected for treatment have contracting gallbladders, operative trauma is less and there is no intraluminal suture line.
5. Of a person: actively engaged in work, production or other activity; working, active. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > [adjective]
workinga1568
acting1595
performing1595
applicative1607
operative1816
society > occupation and work > worker > [adjective]
operative1816
operatic1882
the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [adjective]
busylOE
sisela1400
importune1449
busied1576
resiant1583
pragmatical1590
doing1591
negotiated1604
practical1617
affairé1802
operative1816
occupied1897
1816 W. Scott Antiquary III. xiv. 302 I see now there is some use in having two attorneys in one firm... When it is fair weather with the client, out comes the gentleman-partner to fawn like a spaniel; when it is foul, forth bolts the operative brother to pin like a bull-dog.
1824 R. Southey Sir Thomas More (1831) I. 369 The active,..or, in the phraseology of the present day, the operative clergy.
1835 Court Mag. 6 51/1 Mr. Pl. is not a little proud at finding himself..the..head and front of the operative dramatists of the day.
1977 G. Scott Hot Pursuit vi. 61 I had reached Hinaki and I was still operative. I breathed deep.
B. n.† 1. A thing, esp. a drug, which operates. Obsolete.† 2. An operative mood or condition. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means
keyOE
toolc1000
wherewithc1230
ministerc1380
meanc1390
instrumenta1425
organ?a1425
mesne1447
moyen1449
handlec1450
hackneya1500
receipta1500
operative1526
ingine1531
appliance1555
agent1579
matter1580
mids1581
wedge1581
wherewithal1583
shoeing-horn1587
engine1589
instrumental1598
Roaring Meg1598
procurement1601
organy1605
vehicle1615
vehiculuma1617
executioner1646
facility1652
operatory1660
instrumentality1663
expedient1665
agency1684
bladea1713
mechanic1924
mechanism1924
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [noun] > a medicine or medicament
medicine?c1225
physicc1325
treacle1340
dia1377
pharmacyc1385
drugc1400
medicament?1440
applyment1561
spece1605
pharmack1643
eradicative1654
medicinal1667
medicinable1683
operative1716
pharmaceutical1829
pharmaceutic1927
meds1967
macrofilaricide1978
1526 Grete Herball cxiii. sig. Hiii/2 Galyen sayth that they ben operatyues & prouoke cours of restreyned floures and helpeth the chyld to come.
1672 W. Penn Spirit of Truth Vindicated 24 If Water and Spirit be the only operative to Regeneration, and Regeneration the only Way to the Kingdom of God.
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 353 The most immediate Operative upon a dangerous Flux, is a Scruple or two of the Flower of Sulpher, with a proportionable quantum sufficit of Alkermes, to make it into a Bolus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > [noun] > condition of being active
activityc1485
operative1608
inactuation1662
1608 D. Price Prælium & Præmium 6 The Imperatiue in God begets an Optatiue in man, not an Operatiue.
3.
a. A person who is engaged in any branch of industry, trade, or profession; spec. a factory worker, an artisan.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > [noun]
man1381
workera1382
labourerc1400
piner1497
pair of hands1598
operator1611
operatist1651
operative1809
operant1831
ouvrier1845
scissorbill1910
rehire1927
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > [noun] > industrial worker
operative1809
industrial1831
industrialist1839
1809–10 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1863) II. 130 The remaining mass of useful labourers and operatives in science, literature, and the learned professions.
1827 Westm. Rev. 7 279 A few dozens of operatives at two or three shillings a-day.
1838–9 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 29 Dec.–4 Jan. in Centenary Edition Wks. (1994) XXIII. 215 One of the ancestors of the present occupants used to practice alchemy. He was the operative; a scientific person in Boston the director.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator iv. 214/2 The cotton operatives have..gained very much.
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark i. xix. 141 The only men who are incurably nervous about railway travel are the railroad operatives.
1935 W. H. Auden & C. Isherwood Dog beneath Skin Prol. 12 Their children have entered the service of the suburban areas; they have become typists, mannequins and factory operatives.
1991 Offshore Engineer Sept. 5/1 The greater awareness of providing an even safer environment for offshore operatives is a subject that many platform operators are addressing.
b. Originally and chiefly U.S. An agent employed by a detective agency, secret service, or similar organization; a private investigator. In later use: an intelligence agent.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > political police > [noun] > secret service agent
secret agenta1715
operative1901
operator1966
station agent1974
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > [noun] > a secret observer, spy > secret agent
intelligencer1540
intelligentiary1577
under-puller1682
agent1804
foreign agent1822
operative1901
spook1942
under-cover1962
Abwehr agent1990
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > [noun] > private detection > person engaged in
private detective1857
eye1874
Pinkerton1877
ferret1891
consultant1894
private investigator1894
Sherlock Holmes1896
operative1901
Sherlock1903
Sherlockian1903
Pink1904
peeper1908
private dick1912
op1924
shamus1925
private eye1938
PI1953
peep1974
1901 J. Flynt in McClure's Mag. 16 332/2 In regard to the Front Office men in Chicago, the detectives from headquarters, an experience of a friend of mine..will throw light on the policy of the Front Office, as represented by at least three of its operatives.
1905 N.Y. Press 23 Oct. 6/4 The word ‘detective’ became so offensive..that it was dropped by some successful [detective] agencies. The word chosen by the Pinkertons to take its place was ‘operative’.
1954 W. Tucker Wild Talent (1955) xiv. 184 Paul wondered if this new woman in the adjoining apartment would be a plant... Slater might be playing it doubly safe and ringing in another operative on him.
1978 N.Y. Mag. 3 Apr. 12/2 In the interim, Arafat denounced the murder of Sebai and rejected the notion that Sebai's killers were PLO operatives.
1991 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 24/1 The sighting by West German intelligence operatives, who had been trailing the man..will fuel speculation.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the noun, as operative-class, operative-elector, operative-printer, operative-shooter, operative-society, etc. Obsolete except in names of societies, etc.
ΚΠ
1800 J. Robison Let. 18 Oct. in E. Robinson & D. McKie Partners in Sci. (1970) 361 The simplicity which..makes it look more like the work of an operative chemist than that of a great philosopher, is a high recommendation of the performance.
1825 Lancet 5 Nov. 231/2 The introduction of small pox was attributable to a floating population..belonging chiefly to the operative classes.
1831 Mechanics' Mag. 14 106 To the Operative Printers of London.
1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 115/1 To keep up these operative electors over the whole country.
1852 Amer. Whig Rev. Sept. 278/1 Unfortunately for the peace of the town, within two years a ‘Protestant Operative Society’ as sprung up within its boundaries.
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 411 The reluctant operative shooters employed to carry out the experiment.
1898 Living Age 5 Nov. 335/1 One result of this policy has been to create a vast operative class.
1999 Times (Nexis) 30 Nov. Leaders of the National Society of Operative Printers, Graphical and Media Personnel (Natsopa) walked out of talks with the management.
C2. Compounds of the adjective.
operative field n. Surgery the area of the body on or through which an operation is performed.
ΚΠ
1859 Amer. Med. Gaz. 10 645 Thereupon we introduced Sims' speculum, firmly drawing the sphincter backward and upward, by which means the operative field, with all its contours, was freely exposed.
1920 H. S. Crossen Operative Gynecol. (ed. 2) xv. 581 Everything that is to come in contact with the operative field must be sterilized.
2006 R. M. Bell in P. F. Lawrence Essent. Gen. Surg. (ed. 4) xxvi. 524/1 All members of the operating team constantly safeguard the sterility of the operative field.
operative mason n. Freemasonry (the masonic term for) a stonemason.
ΚΠ
1731 S. Prichard Masonry Dissected (ed. 4) 6 In these latter days Masonry is not composed of artificers, as it was in its primæval state, when some few catechetical questions were necessary to declare a man sufficiently qualified for an Operative Mason.
a1826 W. Morgan Illustr. Masonry (?1851) 21 The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to measure and lay out their work, but we, as free and accepted Masons, make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time.
2002 This is Local London (Nexis) 24 May Freemasons took the operative mason's tools as symbols for their moral code.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.?a1425- glucoctonic
- glucodrupose
- glucoferulic
- glucoheptose
- glucolignose
- glucolysis
- glucometer
- gluconate
- gluconates
- gluconeogeneses
- gluconeogenesis
- gluconeogenetic
- gluconeogenic
- gluconic acid
- glucoproteid
- glucoprotein
- glucoproteins
- glucosaccharic
- glucosaccharic acid
- glucosamine
- glucosamines
- glucosan
- glucosazone
- glucose
- glucose drink