noun
1. the activity of operating something (a machine or business etc.)
e.g. her smooth operation of the vehicle gave us a surprisingly comfortable ride
2. a planned activity involving many people performing various actions
e.g. they organized a rescue operation
the biggest police operation in French history
running a restaurant is quite an operation
consolidate the companies various operations
3. a process or series of acts especially of a practical or mechanical nature involved in a particular form of work
e.g. the operations in building a house
certain machine tool operations
Synonym: procedure
4. a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments
performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body
e.g. they will schedule the operation as soon as an operating room is available
he died while undergoing surgery
Synonym: surgerysurgical operationsurgical proceduresurgical process
5. (mathematics) calculation by mathematical methods
e.g. the problems at the end of the chapter demonstrated the mathematical processes involved in the derivation
they were learning the basic operations of arithmetic
Synonym: mathematical processmathematical operation
6. activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign)
e.g. it was a joint operation of the navy and air force
Synonym: military operation
7. a business especially one run on a large scale
e.g. a large-scale farming operation
a multinational operation
they paid taxes on every stage of the operation
they had to consolidate their operations
8. (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity
an operation that affects mental contents
e.g. the process of thinking
the cognitive operation of remembering
Synonym: processcognitive processmental processcognitive operation
9. (computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction)
e.g. it can perform millions of operations per second
10. process or manner of functioning or operating
e.g. the power of its engine determines its operation
the plane's operation in high winds
they compared the cooking performance of each oven
the jet's performance conformed to high standards
Synonym: functioningperformance
11. the state of being in effect or being operative
e.g. that rule is no longer in operation