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Another word for operate

a-z
Verb

  1. To perform a function effectively

      1. To have a function; serve or be used (as)
      2. To deal with or overcome the challenges of everyday life:
      3. To act in a required or expected manner; work
      1. To work or operate properly; function
      2. (Informal) To say or utter. Used chiefly in verbal narration:
      3. (Informal) To take on the responsibility or obligation for:
      1. To be in operation; function or work:
      2. To take a particular form, order, or expression:
      3. To go, move, grow, etc. easily and freely, without hindrance or restraint
      1. To get into one's hands, control, or possession, especially:
      2. To use or require (time):
      3. To use (something) as a means of conveyance or transportation:
      1. To move, proceed, etc. slowly and with or as with difficulty
      2. To make, achieve, or pay for by work or effort:
      3. To cause to operate or function; actuate, use, or manage:
    See also:

    thrive

  2. To control or direct the functioning of

      1. To get (a person) to do what one wishes, esp. by skill, tact, flattery, etc.
      2. To find ways to go on functioning; get along somehow; succeed in handling matters
      3. (Rare) To use carefully; husband
      1. To go by moving the legs rapidly, faster than in walking, and (in a two-legged animal) in such a way that for an instant both feet are off the ground
      2. To migrate, especially to move in a shoal in order to spawn. Used of fish.
      3. To be in operation; function or work:
      1. To put or bring into action or service; employ for or apply to a given purpose
      2. To take or consume for a purpose:
      3. To avail oneself of; practice:
      1. To exert an influence. Used with on or upon :
      2. To make, achieve, or pay for by work or effort:
      3. To cause to operate or function; actuate, use, or manage:
    See also:

    control

  3. To control the course of (an activity)

    See also:

    over

  4. To react in a specified way

      1. To serve or function
      2. To play the part of; assume the dramatic role of:
      3. To carry out an action:
      1. To conduct (oneself) in a specified way:
      2. To conduct (oneself or itself) in a specified way; act or react
      3. To act, react, function, or perform in a particular way:
      1. To have or perform a function; serve:
      2. To deal with or overcome the challenges of everyday life:
      3. To act in a required or expected manner; work
      1. To carry out or execute an action or process; esp., to take part in a musical program, act in a play, dance, etc. before an audience
      2. To act on so as to accomplish or bring to completion; execute; carry out (a task, process, etc.)
      3. To present a dramatic or musical work or other entertainment before an audience.
      1. To perform its required or expected function; operate or act as specified
      2. To bring to a specified condition by gradual or repeated effort or work:
      3. To function; operate:
    See also:

    action

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for operate

Verb

  1. To keep in operation

      1. To manage or control artfully or by shrewd use of influence, often in an unfair or fraudulent way
      2. (Medicine) To handle and move in an examination or for therapeutic purposes:
      3. To influence or manage shrewdly or deviously:
      1. (Music) To direct the performance of (an orchestra or chorus, for example).
      2. To direct the course of; manage or control:
      3. To serve as a medium for conveying; transmit:
      1. To manage or direct (the affairs of a government, institution, etc.)
      2. To manage as an administrator.
      3. To apply as a remedy:
    See also:

    command

    manage

  2. To be in operation

      1. To have a function; serve or be used (as)
      2. To deal with or overcome the challenges of everyday life:
      3. To act in a required or expected manner; work
      1. To make, achieve, or pay for by work or effort:
      2. To move, proceed, etc. slowly and with or as with difficulty
      3. To cause to operate or function; actuate, use, or manage:
      1. To meet the requirements of; suffice for:
      2. To be of service or use; function:
      3. To work for as a servant
      1. To go past or through without making a required stop
      2. To be in operation; function or work:
      3. To go, move, grow, etc. easily and freely, without hindrance or restraint
      1. To cause to travel in a circle or orbit
      2. To be oriented (around or about something regarded as a center)
      3. To turn on an axis; rotate.
      1. To do something
      2. To appear or seem to be:
      3. To carry out an action:
      1. To conduct (oneself) in a specified way:
      2. To conduct (oneself or itself) in a specified way; act or react
      3. To act, react, function, or perform in a particular way:
      1. To carry out (something promised, desired, predicted, etc.); cause to be or happen
      2. To do, perform, or obey (a task or order, for example); carry out.
      3. To emotionally or artistically satisfy; to develop one's gifts to the fullest.
      1. To give a rounded form to:
      2. To direct or shift one's attention, abilities, thoughts, etc.
      3. To reverse one's or its course; start to move, go, etc. in the opposite direction
      1. To wrap (something) round and round upon itself or around something else. Often used with up:
      2. To start to move or operate:
      3. To work or succeed in a sustained way; gain momentum:
      1. To cause (wheels of a vehicle) to rotate freely without traction, as on ice or in sand
      2. To go into or descend in a spin
      3. To provide an interpretation of (a statement or event, for example), especially in a way meant to sway public opinion:
      1. To force in, draw out, drive, move up and down, pour forth, etc. by means of a pump or as a pump does
      2. To get (information) from a person in this way
      3. To work a pump
      1. To perform cosmetic surgery on (the face, for example), especially in order to remove wrinkles or sagging skin.
      2. To raise in condition, rank, or esteem:
      3. To become raised or elevated; go up
      1. To operate correctly. Used of the ignition system of an internal-combustion engine.
      2. To give off sparks.
      3. To come forth as or like sparks
      1. To shatter with a loud noise:
      2. To change state or appearance suddenly:
      3. To cause to change suddenly and violently from a solid or liquid to a quickly expanding gas
      1. To cause a strong impression, especially by emotional intensity:
      2. To be or become angry:
      3. To swindle or deceive; cheat:
      1. To cause to progress or advance:
      2. To change posture or position; stir:
      3. To progress in sequence; go forward:
      1. To increase in scope or severity, as of a disease taking an unfavorable course.
      2. To move forward toward completion, a goal, etc.
      3. To advance toward perfection or to a higher or better state; improve
      1. To serve as an advance person for (a trip to be made by a politician or a dignitary):
      2. To cause to move forward:
      3. To go or move forward or onward.
      1. To begin to carry on an action or a process:
      2. To come from a source; originate or issue:
      3. To go forward or onward, especially after an interruption; continue:
      1. (Informal) To say or utter. Used chiefly in verbal narration:
      2. To work or operate properly; function
      3. To continue to be in a certain condition or continue an activity:
      1. To make contact with; touch or strike:
      2. To get in touch or communication with
      3. To bring, be, or come in contact.
      1. To achieve or find something desired or sought:
      2. To cause an implement or missile to come forcefully into contact with:
      3. (Baseball) To get (a specified result) while batting the ball
      1. To draw into; involve:
      2. To require the use of; occupy:
      3. To interlock with or cause to come into frictional driving contact with
      1. To carry away with emotion; enrapture; entrance
      2. To move or carry (goods, for example) from one place to another; convey.
      3. To cause to feel strong emotion, especially joy; carry away; enrapture.
      1. To make known; communicate in words, actions, appearance, etc.
      2. (Obs.) To take away secretly
      3. To take from one place to another; transport; carry
      1. To halt the spread or development of; check:
      2. To have in it; hold, enclose, or include
      3. To hold or keep within limits; restrain:
      1. To apply (oneself) with great energy or straining effort
      2. To bring to bear; exercise:
      3. To put to use or effect; put forth:
      1. (Intransitive) To click the left button of a computer mouse while pointing.
      2. (Computers) To press down and release a button on a pointing device in order to select an item on a display screen or activate a command or function. Often used with on:
      3. To fit, work, or get along together successfully
      1. (Chiefly Brit.) To mark or check off (an item on a list, etc.) with a tick
      2. To function characteristically or well:
      3. (Informal) To function characteristically or well; operate; work
      1. To drain or seep through a porous material or filter.
      2. To cause (liquid, for example) to pass through a porous substance or small holes; filter.
      3. To become active or lively; start bubbling up, as coffee in a percolator
    See also:

    perform

    Antonyms:

  3. To produce an effect

    See also:

    achieve

    produce

  4. To carry out a surgical procedure

    See also:

    treat

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • I hope you will find him sympathetic and ready to co- operate in promoting all that is reasonable.

  • It did not operate as a rule beyond the limits of race.

  • In England, in addition to the Marconi Company, the Lodge-Muirhead Syndicate was formed to operate the inventions of Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr Muirhead.

  • That's up to you but you'll need me to operate the machines.

  • A third Italian army would, if expedient, pass into Germany, to operate against either France or Russia.

More sentences →

Words near operate in the Thesaurus