operation
/ˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ noun B1- 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 (verb): agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.
- 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.
- A surgical procedure. · She had an operation to remove her appendix.
- 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.
- A function which maps zero or more (but typically two) operands to a single output value.
Plural operations
From the library
The thieves had already approached Andrea, some screaming, “La savate—La savate!” a cruel operation, which consists in cuffing a comrade who may have fallen into disgrace, not with an old shoe, but with an iron-heeled one.
Then collecting all her remaining strength, she forced herself to close her eyes; but this simple operation upon the most delicate organs of our frame, generally so easy to accomplish, became almost impossible at this moment, so much did curiosity struggle to retain the eyelid open and learn the truth.
Some of the inmates of the “Lions’ Den” were watching the operations of the prisoner’s toilet with considerable interest.
You may take it from me that naval warfare becomes impossible within the radius of a Bruce-Partington’s operation.
Learn operation in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.