operation
UK /ˌɒp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ · US /ˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ noun
Forms operations
- noun (uncountable) The method by which a device performs its function. “It is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser while it is in operation.”
- noun (uncountable) The method or practice by which actions are done.
- noun (uncountable) The act or process of operating (verb): agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
- noun (countable) A planned undertaking. “The police ran an operation to get vagrants off the streets.”
- noun (countable) A business or organization. “We run our operation from a storefront.”
- noun (countable, medicine) A surgical procedure. “She had an operation to remove her appendix.”
- noun (computing, logic, mathematics, countable) A procedure for generating a value from one or more other values (the operands). “The number of operands associated with an operation is called its arity; an operation of arity 2 is called a binary operation.”
- noun (mathematics, more formally, countable) A function which maps zero or more (but typically two) operands to a single output value.
Synonyms
operating function transformation military operation surgery surgical operation surgical procedure surgical process procedure functioning performance process cognitive process mental process cognitive operation mathematical process mathematical operation
Etymology
From Middle English operacioun, from Old French operacion, from Latin operātiō, from the verb operor (“to work”), from opus, operis (“work”). Equivalent to operate + -ion.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
- noun The method of working; mode of action.
Etymology [L. operatio: cf. F. opération.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “operation”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details