operation
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French operation, from Old French operacion, from Latin operātiō, from the verb operor (“I work”), from opus, operis (“work”). Equivalent to operate + -ion.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɒp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -eɪʃən
- Hyphenation: op‧e‧ra‧tion
Noun edit
operation (countable and uncountable, plural operations)
- 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.
- The method or practice by which actions are done.
- The act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 8:
- the pain and sickness caused by manna are confessedly nothing but the effects of its operations on the stomach and guts.
- 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
- Speculative painting, without the assistance of manual operation, can never attain to perfection.
- A planned undertaking.
- The police ran an operation to get vagrants off the streets.
- The Katrina relief operation was considered botched.
- A business or organization.
- We run our operation from a storefront.
- They run a multinational produce-supply operation.
- (medicine) A surgical procedure.
- She had an operation to remove her appendix.
- 1750, W[illiam] Ellis, The Country Housewife's Family Companion […] , London: James Hodges; B. Collins, →OCLC, page 157:
- This done, ſhe performs the very ſame Operation on the other Side of the Cock's Body, and there takes out the other Stone; then ſhe ſtitches up the Wounds, and lets the Fowl go about as at other Times, till the Capon is fatted in a Coup, which is commonly done from Chriſtmas to Candlemas, and after.
- (computing, logic, mathematics) A procedure for generating a value from one or more other values (the operands)
- (mathematics, more formally) a function which maps zero or more (but typically two) operands to a single output value.
- The number of operands associated with an operation is called its arity; an operation of arity 2 is called a binary operation.
- (military) A military campaign (e.g. Operation Desert Storm)
- (obsolete) Effect produced; influence.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC:
- The bards […] had great operation on the vulgar.
Synonyms edit
- (mathematics): function, transformation
Derived terms edit
- additive operation
- arithmetic operation
- binary operation
- black bag operation
- black operation
- co-operation
- cottage food operation
- driver-only operation
- dyadic operation
- floating-point operation
- floating point operation
- Gigli's operation
- grow operation
- Hartmann's operation
- in operation
- line of operations
- logical operation
- multiplicative operation
- operation of law
- pivot operation
- Récamier's operation
- reoperation
- screwdriver operation
- set operation
- short-circuit logical operation
- special military operation
- unary operation
- unit operation
- (business or organization): mission operations
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- → Japanese: オペレーション (operēshon)
- → Scottish Gaelic: opairèisean
Translations edit
method by which a device performs its function
|
method or practice by which actions are done
|
the act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral
a planned undertaking
|
surgical procedure
|
procedure for generating a value from one or more other values
|
military campaign
|
References edit
Further reading edit
- “operation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “operation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams edit
Interlingua edit
Noun edit
operation (plural operationes)
- operation (surgical procedure)
Middle French edit
Noun edit
operation f (plural operations)
- function; role
- 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais:
- C'est tesmoignage de crudité et indigestion que de regorger la viande comme on l'a avallée. L'estomac n'a pas faict son operation, s'il n'a faict changer la façon et la forme a ce qu'on luy avoit donné à cuire.
- It's testament of rawness and indigestion when one regurgitates meat in the same state as one swallowed it. The stomach hasn't done its function if it hasn't change the shape and the form of what one has given it to cook.
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
operation c
- an operation (planned undertaking)
- (medicine) an operation
- (mathematics) an operation
- (military) an operation
Declension edit
| Declension of operation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | operation | operationen | operationer | operationerna |
| Genitive | operations | operationens | operationers | operationernas |