English

operator

Meaning
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  1. (countable, uncountable) A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
  2. (countable, uncountable) A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers.
  3. (countable, uncountable) A member of a military special operations unit.
  4. (uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.
  5. (countable, informal, uncountable) A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods.
  6. (countable, uncountable) A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range.
  7. (countable, uncountable) The administrator of a channel or network on IRC.
  8. (countable, uncountable) A symbol that represents a construct in a programming language and differs from a normal function in its syntax.
  9. (countable, uncountable) A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable.
  10. (countable, uncountable) A bus driver.
  11. (countable, uncountable) The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine.
  12. (countable, slang, uncountable) A thief or charlatan.
  13. (countable, slang, uncountable) A major criminal.
  14. (countable, dated, slang, uncountable) Someone who is successful at pursuing women; a player.

Frequency

B2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/
Etymology

Borrowed from Latin operātor, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.

Related words
operators operation telecommunications operations administrator representative
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