Definition of operation in English:

operation

See synonyms for operation

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noun

1The fact or condition of functioning or being active.
‘the construction and operation of power stations’
- ‘The company has eight power plants in operation and seven under construction.’
- ‘Maybe I don't but there needs to be work done even if just to prove that the Placebo effect is in operation.’
- ‘Since 1997, some 40 hospitals and 550 schools are under construction or in operation.’
- ‘Does that mean that the small hilly State has effectively put into operation a strong system of education?’
- ‘Monitoring over the coming months will evaluate the effectiveness in operation and safety.’
- ‘Tested on a track in Italy, they proved both smooth and very effective in operation and bring worthwhile safety advances.’
- ‘In fact, there are two conflicting economies in operation in Britain.’
- ‘In fact one has been in operation near Helston, Cornwall, for at least 12 months.’
- ‘Speed restrictions are in operation at the moment to ensure that the tracks are safe whilst the checking is completed.’
- ‘By 1812 Jefferson had three threshing machines in operation, two powered by horses and one by a waterwheel.’
- ‘These mechanisms and powers are always in operation even when empirically the rate of profit is rising.’
- ‘The task force will be in operation until May 20 when the newly-elected president takes office.’
- ‘Agents say the tunnel had been under construction for nearly a year and was recently put into operation.’
- ‘That force is still in operation until you cancel it out.’
- ‘At their peak 20,000 trolleybuses, which run on wheels and are powered by overhead electric cables, were in operation in the UK.’
- ‘There are about 17 million energised tube wells in operation all over India running on subsidized power or diesel.’
- ‘The provincial power shortage will be eased when the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant is put into operation at the end of this year, he said.’
- ‘They will be used initially by Derbyshire police force, which hopes to have its system in operation by mid-2002.’
- ‘But the new powers will not be in operation in York until next month and will only apply to cars of no value that have been vandalised or torched.’
- ‘There will also be a rental scheme in operation for owners, a fact which may spark a good deal of Irish investor interest.’
functioning, working, running, performance, action, behaviour
functioning, working, running, up and running, operative, in use, in action, going
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1. 1.1An active process; a discharge of a function.
  ‘the operations of the mind’
  ‘The attorney general really has no direct relation to the operation and function of the election operations in each of these counties.’
  ‘As we said last November, they're not mentioned in the Reserve Bank Act 1959 or its own overview of its functions and operations.’
  ‘Because these operations discharge uneaten food, pesticides and fish waste into the ocean, they need permits.’
  ‘About 170 lines control the sails and yards, so every member of the crew must be familiar with these operations and functions.’
  ‘No button and keyboard can be found and all the operations can be functioned by vocal message.’
  ‘At their peak in 1994, there were over twenty such active operations.’
  ‘The laws that empower the minister of Local Government to regulate the operations and functions of local authorities are still in place.’
  ‘There is a central reporting mechanism for the operations but the functions are run in a fragmented manner across the different markets.’
  ‘The PCS runs its own applications, which have very little to do with the actual main function operations in a module.’
  ‘Judge Mick Brown did an excellent job of reviewing the functions and operations of the department.’
  ‘The literature on chain ownership's effects on editorial page functions and operations is divided.’
  ‘The software's main advantage is its ability to be user-friendly, while handling complex processing operations in the background.’
  ‘I think we need really a significant shake-up, and a change in the processes and operations of the agency.’
  ‘The Central government prohibited a number of processes and operations, except with its prior permission.’
  ‘The post incineration process includes six cleansing operations to remove pollutants from the flue gasses.’
  ‘In the context of the native-title process, and the operations of state bureaucracy in general, mind is privileged over body.’
  ‘There is nothing like an arbitrary set of symbols to fix the operations of the mind.’
  ‘Functional neuroimaging purports to offer just such a direct window on the mind's operations.’
  ‘Identify the key functions and their inter-dependencies with other operations so that you can prioritise the recovery process.’
  ‘Topics ranged from fuels for missile operations to human bodily functions in space.’
2An act of surgery performed on a patient.
‘I've never felt better since my bypass operation’
- ‘To avoid this problem, some surgeons perform coronary bypass operations on beating hearts.’
- ‘Vasectomy can easily be performed as an outpatient operation under local anaesthetic.’
- ‘Patients can visit day surgery units for small operations and be allowed to return home later in the day or evening.’
- ‘This complication is dependent upon the general state of health of the patient and the extent of the operation performed.’
- ‘As surgery becomes more precise, faster and safer, related operations are more frequently performed at the same time.’
- ‘The scheme will then be rolled out to reduce the backlog of patients waiting for other operations such as cataract surgery or hip and knee replacements.’
- ‘In the past three months, the hospital has treated 26,000 patients and performed 300 operations.’
- ‘Cardiac surgical procedures are among the most commonly performed operations in the United States.’
- ‘You may also be asked to avoid eating or drinking from the evening before the surgery until the operation is complete.’
- ‘We did not study in detail whether the change in sexual activity before and after hysterectomy was related to the operation performed or to other circumstances in life.’
- ‘Doctors are so scared of being sued that many will refuse to treat high-risk patients or perform difficult operations, medical experts have warned.’
- ‘In the present study, all operations were performed by one surgeon, avoiding variation in surgical technique as a cause of altered blood loss.’
- ‘Doctors abandoned up to a dozen heart operations, including by-pass surgery, after the blunder was discovered last Thursday.’
- ‘The unit will be able to correct various visual problems and perform life-changing operations that will allow patients to see again.’
- ‘The hospital where he treated patients and performed operations is no more.’
- ‘The operation is performed under cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermia.’
- ‘It provides a solution to the old problem of what legal rule allows a casualty surgeon to perform an urgent operation on an unconscious patient who is brought into hospital.’
- ‘One of the commonest operations performed in Australia is gall bladder removal: the cholecystectomy, usually for gall stones.’
- ‘They not only provide preventive and basic curative health care but also perform family planning procedures and other surgical operations.’
- ‘The operation is performed in an operating theatre while you are lying down on your back.’
surgery, surgical operation, surgical intervention, major surgery, minor surgery
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3A piece of organized and concerted activity involving a number of people, especially members of the armed forces or the police.
‘a rescue operation’
- ‘military operations’
- ‘His leadership combined military operations, government administration, and economic management.’
- ‘Arguably they are too late, since the unprecedented military operation staged to rescue her was itself a made for-TV movie directed by the Pentagon.’
- ‘The official avoided making specific comments on the possibility of a U.S.-led military operation to rescue Koda.’
- ‘Previously the US has had problems with countries not letting them use their bases for military operations and in directly deploying troops to war zones.’
- ‘I'm willing to give greater powers to an intelligence director provided we do not give him the power to direct military operations.’
- ‘He plans to do this by giving control of military operations and lucrative contracts to the United Nations.’
- ‘The CPS is responsible for ‘political control and strategic management’ during military operations.’
- ‘In November, the Indian government announced that military operations against the guerrilla groups were unilaterally halted.’
- ‘Stalin at first panicked, but then assumed personal control over military operations.’
- ‘It would direct defensive military operations should the United States be attacked.’
- ‘Before the recent military operations began in Afghanistan doubters claimed that the enterprise would end in disaster, but the coalition's aims were all met.’
- ‘But first, we begin with two military operations, both of which may be tainted somewhat with controversy.’
- ‘In other countries, media are simply banned from covering military operations except for passing on government statements.’
- ‘The government often retaliates with military operations and air strikes.’
- ‘Tribals, incensed by the military operations, could reject the dominion of the federal government.’
- ‘Because assassination is an act of war, such activities should always be considered a military operation.’
- ‘Mercado said four soldiers have so far been wounded in the military rescue operation launched by the government in the early hours of Saturday.’
- ‘Second, relief operations run by the military carry the risk that they become a ruse to conduct military operations under the guise of supposedly providing assistance.’
- ‘He has also noted that about half the cases this year occurred during active hostilities or combat operations in the Persian Gulf.’
- ‘On the ground, peacekeeping operations demonstrate the broadening functions of armies.’
action, activity, exercise, affair, business, undertaking, step, enterprise, task, job, process, procedure, manoeuvre, campaign
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1. 3.1A business organization; a company.
  ‘he reopened his operation under a different name’
  business, enterprise, company, firm, organization, concern
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2. 3.2An activity in which a business is involved.
  ‘the company is selling most of its commercial banking operations’
3. 3.3Preceding a code name for an organized military or police activity.
  ‘Operation Desert Storm’
  ‘Codenamed Operation Green it was led by the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Sir Edward Crew.’
  ‘Three road blocks were set up, in London Road, Swanscombe, Crooked Road and Rochester Road, in Gravesend, as part of drug-busting Operation Carrot.’
  ‘The first Operation Iraqi Freedom Medal of Honor nominee was named today.’
  ‘Prevention is a big Operation Enduring Freedom success.’
  ‘By launching Operation Market Garden, Field Marshal Montgomery had hoped to end the war by Christmas 1944.’
  ‘This time it's called Operation Desert Scorpion.’
  ‘Children at St Mark's Primary School in Danebury Road were busy in the run-up to Christmas, collecting gifts for Operation Christmas Child.’
  ‘A team of 80 volunteers will leave Shannon Airport on Friday as part of the Chernobyl Children's Project, Operation Hope XVI.’
  ‘Thus, I have started Operation Make a Soldier Smile.’
  ‘His USO tours criss-crossed the globe, from jungles to war zones, from World War II to Operation Desert Storm.’
  ‘Please head over to Operation Give if you've got a minute.’
  ‘Owen West served with the Marines in Operation Iraqi Freedom.’
  ‘First item on the agenda is Operation Lady in Red.’
  ‘This deployment is referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom Three.’
  ‘He sure did us proud as a commander of Operation Desert Storm.’
  ‘All this is in the name of Operation Enduring Freedom.’
  ‘More than 75 Camp Pendleton Marines have sacrificed their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom.’
  ‘Thanks once again to The General for dreaming up Operation Yellow Elephant.’
  ‘Canada sent a battalion to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom.’
  ‘A new NATO operation is underway in Afghanistan: Operation Get the Vote Out.’
4Mathematics
A process in which a number, quantity, expression, etc., is altered or manipulated according to formal rules, such as those of addition, multiplication, and differentiation.
‘Problems can be created to cover all math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division!’
- ‘That is addition, multiplication and the two inverse operations of subtraction and division.’
- ‘For example, one can have a group in which the objects are numbers and the combining operation is addition or multiplication.’
- ‘The inverse of an operation undoes the operation: division undoes multiplication.’
- ‘Is she over-generalizing the order of operations, thinking that multiplication takes precedence over division?’