Meaning

A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
2. A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers.
3. A member of a military special operations unit.
4. A surgeon; one who performs medical operations.
5. (uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
6. (informal) A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods.
7. (mathematics) A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range.
8. (computing) The administrator of a channel or network on IRC.

Example Sentences

The drone crashed because of operator error.

The new bus operator has promised to improve the frequency of rural services.

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

To get an international line, you used to have to go through the operator.

I kept getting "number unobtainable", so I called the operator to find out what was going on.

Oh, a very well-known man. He has a great reputation as an operator for peritonitis.

Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit. Tim Stamper: Shame. Used to be a hell of an operator in his day.

In the sentence "What did Bill say he wants to buy?", "what" is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable.

Word Forms

• operators

Synonyms for operator

Related Words

When Should You Use Operator?

Use operator when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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