operator
Americannoun
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a person who operates a machine, apparatus, or the like.
a telegraph operator.
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a person who operates a telephone switchboard, especially for a telephone company.
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a person who manages a working or industrial establishment, enterprise, or system.
the operators of a mine.
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a person who trades in securities, especially speculatively or on a large scale.
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a person who performs a surgical operation; a surgeon.
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Mathematics.
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a symbol for expressing a mathematical operation.
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a function, especially one transforming a function, set, etc., into another.
a differential operator.
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Informal.
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a person who accomplishes goals or purposes by devious means; faker; fraud.
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a person who is adroit at overcoming, avoiding, or evading difficulties, regulations, or restrictions.
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a person who is extremely successful with or smoothly persuasive to potential sexual or romantic partners.
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Genetics. a segment of DNA that interacts with a regulatory molecule, preventing transcription of the adjacent region.
noun
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a person who operates a machine, instrument, etc, esp, a person who makes connections on a telephone switchboard or at an exchange
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a person who owns or operates an industrial or commercial establishment
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a speculator, esp one who operates on currency or stock markets
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informal a person who manipulates affairs and other people
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maths any symbol, term, letter, etc, used to indicate or express a specific operation or process, such as Δ (the differential operator)
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Mathematics A function, especially one from a set to itself, such as differentiation of a differentiable function or rotation of a vector. In quantum mechanics, measurable quantities of a physical system, such as position and momentum, are related to unique operators applied to the wave equation describing the system.
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A logical operator.
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Genetics A segment of chromosomal DNA that regulates the activity of the structural genes of an operon by interacting with a specific repressor.
Other Word Forms
- preoperator noun
- self-operator noun
Etymology
Origin of operator
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Late Latin, equivalent to operā(rī) “to work, effect” ( operate ) + Latin -tor noun suffix ( -tor )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The telecommunications operator’s 2025 earnings disappointed the analysts, marking a low point with headline Ebitda contracting by double digits.
Behind every shot of a luger hurtling around a bend or a freestyle skier twisting through thin air is a drone operator.
The fund holds a concentrated portfolio of 28 stocks of dividend-paying companies, including electric utilities, energy producers and pipeline operators, real-estate investment trusts, construction and engineering companies and telecommunications providers.
From MarketWatch
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot paid tribute to the lorry driver killed in the Landes region and appealed to the public to "exercise utmost caution when travelling and check with their transport operator before any journey".
From BBC
Merlin said it will now launch a broader consultation with disabled guests, accessibility specialists and other operators across the attractions industry.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
