[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/operate.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / operate

[← O](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/O/)

# operate

«operate» in Mova's school dictionary: **to make it work or control it** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (operate, operates, operated, operating)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To operate a machine is to make it work or control it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m1)

2) To operate means to work or run: The buses operate every ten minutes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m2)

3) A doctor operates when he or she cuts into a patient's body to fix something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m3)

4) To operate means to run a business or organisation. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m4)

5) In old tales, to operate can mean to use magic or secret power to make something happen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In maths, operations are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing; you operate on numbers. In everyday life machines, lifts and trains operate. In hospitals surgeons operate. In safety lessons only adults should operate dangerous machines. Phrases: operate on (a patient), easy to operate.

### examples

- Only an adult should operate the lawnmower. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x1)
- The trains operate every fifteen minutes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x2)
- The doctor had to operate on her knee. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x3)
- How do you operate this remote control? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x4)
- The shop operates seven days a week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x5)
- The robot is operated by a computer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x6)
- Choose the right operation: add or multiply? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x7)
- The bagpiper announced that he would operate that very evening when the moon rose. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x8)

### note

Regular verb. Nouns: operation (in maths: +, −, ×, ÷; in hospital: surgery), operator (the person who works a machine). Doctors «operate on» a person, not «operate» a person.

### In the corpora

- [A surgeon is a doctor who operates on the body.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/94-medicines-doctors-hospitals/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «operate» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.