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radio operator

radio operator

8 3.4
A person who uses a radio to send and receive messages
  • noun
  • /ˈreɪdioʊ ˈɒpəreɪtər/
translation icon : operador de radio
  • Most of the time, he was on LSM 368 as the radar/radio operator, delivering supplies to ships at sea and throughout the islands.
  • ham radio operator
  • amateur radio operator

You were a pig radio operator, first Marines Camp Pendleton, CA crisis response team in Saudi Arabia prior to Afghanistan.

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Examples

  • A young radio operator serving in Vietnam... whose platoon came under mortar attack near the outpost at Soc Trang.

  • Her dad was an amateur radio operator.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The radio operator said one man had been killed.

  • Radio operators will set up over here.

  • I'm the radio operator supervisor.

  • As far as we can see, there's only one radio operator.

  • Radio operator, to update the incoming ambulance on the location, access, patient condition, etc.

    Blog text (23)
  • I'm Private Durwood, radio operator 171, reporting for A.S.S duty.

  • Frantic efforts were being made to reach the Californian, only ten miles away, but she couldn't be roused, despite the radio operator's frantic efforts.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The radio operator communicated crucial information to the pilot during the flight.

How Responsible

air crew
3 3.0
towerman
  • Archaic
5.5
signalman
  • Specialized
2 8.1
radio operator
8 3.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

radio + operator

The meaning 'a person who operates a radio transmitter' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'radio' (device for wireless signals) with 'operator' (someone who operates equipment). This follows a very common modifier+head noun compound pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Radio operator comes from the early days when ships and armies used large radio sets and needed a person—the operator—to run them and send messages, creating a clear image of someone working the machine. So today a radio operator is a person whose job is 'to operate' a radio and send or receive messages.