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# operate

verb (operate, operates, operated, operating)

«operate» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To operate a machine is to make it work or control it. [tree →](https://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://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://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m3)
4. To operate means to run a business or organisation. [tree →](https://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://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#m5)

### 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://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x1)
- The trains operate every fifteen minutes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x2)
- The doctor had to operate on her knee. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x3)
- How do you operate this remote control? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x4)
- The shop operates seven days a week. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x5)
- The robot is operated by a computer. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/#x6)
- Choose the right operation: add or multiply? [tree →](https://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://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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «operate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/operate/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«operate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/operate.html) on Mova free.