operant

English

Adjective

operant (comparative more operant, superlative most operant)

1. That operates to produce an effect.
   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 117:

     I tell you frankly, if Paul Aubry is guilty I hope is convicted and punished; but if one of the others is guilty I hope he—or she—is punished, and if I knew anything operant to that end I certainly would not withhold it.

Noun

operant (plural operants)

1. An operative person or thing.
2. (psychology) A class of behavior that produces consequences by operating (i.e., acting) upon the environment.

Derived terms

• inoperant
• operancy
• operant conditioning

Antonyms

• inoperant

See also

• Skinner box

Anagrams

• pronate, Protean, protean, tropane