Meaning & use
operation
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A planned set of actions carried out by a group to achieve a specific aim, such as a rescue or police effort.
Grammar: Often names a mission: a rescue operation.
Patterns
- an operation to do something
- launch an operation
Police carried out a joint operation to shut down the smuggling network.
The rescue operation continued through the night.
The charity runs a food-delivery operation across the city.
nouncountablemedical
A medical procedure in which a surgeon cuts into the body to repair or remove something.
Grammar: Use have an operation, not make: she had an operation.
Patterns
- an operation on something
- have an operation for something
He needed an operation on his knee after the accident.
The operation lasted four hours and went well.
She was nervous before the heart operation.
nouncountablemathematics
A process in mathematics, such as adding or multiplying, performed on numbers or other quantities.
Grammar: Often listed in groups: basic operations.
Patterns
- an operation on something
Addition is the first operation children learn.
Division is the inverse operation of multiplication.
The calculator can perform any operation on two numbers.
noununcountable
The way a machine, system or business works, or the state of working.
Grammar: Often follows in or into: in operation, come into operation.
Patterns
- in operation
- come into operation
- the operation of something
The new bridge will be in operation by spring.
The manual explains the operation of the machine step by step.
The factory ceased operation last year.
Word forms
| plural | operations |
|---|
Common combinations
- launch an operation
- Officials launched an operation to clear the flooded roads.
- undergo an operation
- He had to undergo an operation on his shoulder.
- in operation
- The old mill is still in operation.
- military operation
- The military operation lasted only a week.
- mathematical operation
- Subtraction is a mathematical operation students use daily.
- day-to-day operations
- She manages the day-to-day operations of the hotel.
Synonyms and how they differ
- procedure
- Procedure in medicine is broader and includes minor treatments, while operation implies actual cutting by a surgeon.
- mission
- Mission stresses a specific assigned goal, usually military or diplomatic, whereas operation can be any organized activity.
- surgery
- Surgery names the field or an act of cutting, and is uncountable in general use, so you say an operation but some surgery.
- function
- Function suggests the role something plays, and operation emphasizes the working or running itself.
Opposites
Word family
- operate verb
- to work, run, or perform surgery
- operational adjective
- working and ready to use
- operator noun
- a person who runs a machine or system
- operative adjective
- in effect or working
- cooperation noun
- working together
Commonly confused: operation or surgery?
operation vs surgery
In British English surgery can also mean a doctor's consulting room, which an operation never does.
Practice
The patient was told he would need an ___ on his hip next month.
Choose one answer.
The noun operation fits after an and means a surgical procedure. Operator is a person, and operative and operational are adjectives.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “operation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.