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to operate

to operate

155 4.5
To do surgery on a person or animal to fix a health problem
  • verb
  • /ˈɑːpəreɪt/
translation icon : operar a
  • After examining the scans, the doctor knew he had to operate immediately.
  • operate on a patient
  • operate on the ear
  • operate on an animal

You can see it in research on on cardiac surgeons where you know how it's it's pretty common for surgeons to operate at multiple hospitals.

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Examples

  • Father did not have much money left, yet it was necessary to operate on the girl.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I told you, they're operating again on Thursday.

  • The doctor is about to operate.

  • The house surgeon had to operate...

  • She'd lost weight since August, and her right side, where they'd operated, still felt weak.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • With remote hands, surgeons could operate on a cruise ship or a battlefield from halfway across the world.

    Academic text (2008)
  • All patients were operated on under general anesthesia in the lithotomy position with urinary catheterization.

    Academic text (2012)
  • The surgeon will operate on the patient to remove the tumor.

  • The team decided to operate as quickly as possible to save the injured animal.

Synonyms

to operate on
vsto operate
  • Specialized
47 4.6

To cut and repair a part of a person or animal in surgery

has identical meaning but is used with a separate short word after the verb

Idioms

To follow a relaxed plan and arrive late without worry

Phrasal Verbs

to operate on
  • Specialized
47 4.6

To cut and repair a part of a person or animal in surgery

to operate on
  • Specialized
21 3.8

To use a program or method to change data

How Thorough

to cure
549 2.4
to operate
155 4.5
to doctor
4 3.2
to examine
868 2.5
to bandage
34 2.7

Surface Forms

operate infinitive
operated past
operated past participle
operating present participle
operates third person singular

Morphology

operate = oper + ate

Although related to the basic sense 'to perform (a procedure)', the surgical sense is a specialized, conventionalized usage that learners might not derive solely from the root + '-ate' without exposure.

Etymology

Operate comes from an old Latin root meaning 'to work', and the same root is in operation, which can mean a medical procedure. So to operate on someone is to 'work' on their body to fix a problem.