Dictionary
List of exercises
Exercises by level
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
OK
Meaning of operation in English
Pronunciation
/ˌɑpəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/
US accent
Your browser does not support the audio element.
How to pronounce operation in American English, in context
▾
Use the controls below
to browse different examples of pronunciation.
UK accent
Your browser does not support the audio element.
How to pronounce operation in British English, in context
▾
Use the controls below
to browse different examples of pronunciation.
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.
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.
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.
the state of being in effect or being operative
Examples
« that rule is no longer in operation »
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.
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.
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
the activity of operating something (a machine or business etc.)
Examples
« her smooth operation of the vehicle gave us a surprisingly comfortable ride »