Meaning of operation in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˌɑpəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/

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  1. Noun

    operation

    Etymology

    late Middle English: via Old French from Latin operatio(n-), from the verb operari‘expend labor on’ (see operate)

    Definitions

    1. a business especially one run on a large scale

    Examples

    • « a large-scale farming operation »
    • « a multinational operation »
    • « they paid taxes on every stage of the operation »
    • « they had to consolidate their operations »
  2. 2. a planned activity involving many people performing various actions

    Examples

    • « they organized a rescue operation »
    • « the biggest police operation in French history »
    • « running a restaurant is quite an operation »
    • « consolidate the companies various operations »
  3. 3. a process or series of acts especially of a practical or mechanical nature involved in a particular form of work

    Examples

    • « the operations in building a house »
    • « certain machine tool operations »
  4. 4. the state of being in effect or being operative

    Examples

    • « that rule is no longer in operation »
  5. 5. a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments

    Examples

    • « performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body »
    • « they will schedule the operation as soon as an operating room is available »
    • « he died while undergoing surgery »
  6. 6. activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign)

    Examples

    • « it was a joint operation of the navy and air force »
  7. 7. (computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction)

    Examples

    • « it can perform millions of operations per second »
  8. 8. process or manner of functioning or operating

    Examples

    • « the power of its engine determine its operation »
    • « the plane's operation in high winds »
    • « they compared the cooking performance of each oven »
    • « the jet's performance conformed to high standards »
  9. 9. (mathematics) calculation by mathematical methods

    Examples

    • « the problems at the end of the chapter demonstrated the mathematical processes involved in the derivation »
    • « they were learning the basic operations of arithmetic »
  10. 10. (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity

    Examples

    • « an operation that affects mental contents »
    • « the process of thinking »
    • « the cognitive operation of remembering »
  11. 11. the activity of operating something (a machine or business etc.)

    Examples

    • « her smooth operation of the vehicle gave us a surprisingly comfortable ride »