Usually means: Agent executing tasks, often covertly.
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We found 35 dictionaries that define the word operative:

General (25 matching dictionaries)
  1. operative: Merriam-Webster.com
  2. operative: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. operative: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. operative: Collins English Dictionary
  5. operative: Vocabulary.com
  6. Operative, operative: Wordnik
  7. operative: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  8. operative: Wiktionary
  9. operative: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  10. operative: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  11. operative: Infoplease Dictionary
  12. operative: Dictionary.com
  13. operative (adj.): Online Etymology Dictionary
  14. operative: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
  15. Operative, The Operative (film), The Operative: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  16. Operative: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
  17. operative: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
  18. operative: Rhymezone
  19. operative: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  20. operative: Webster's 1828 Dictionary
  21. operative: Free Dictionary
  22. operative: Mnemonic Dictionary
  23. operative: Dictionary/thesaurus

Business (4 matching dictionaries)
  1. operative: Webster's New World Law Dictionary
  2. Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1856 Edition (No longer online)
  3. operative: Legal dictionary
  4. BusinessDictionary.com (No longer online)

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
  1. operative: Encyclopedia

Medicine (3 matching dictionaries)
  1. Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (No longer online)
  2. online medical dictionary (No longer online)
  3. operative: Medical dictionary

Miscellaneous (1 matching dictionary)
  1. operative: Idioms

Sports (1 matching dictionary)
  1. 2060 Shadow-Slang (No longer online)

(Note: See operatively as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (
)
American English Definition British English Definition
adjective:  Effectual or important.
adjective:  Functional, in working order.
adjective:  Having the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects.
adjective:  Producing the appropriate or designed effect; efficacious.
adjective:  Based upon, or consisting of, a surgical operation or operations. [from 18th c.]
noun:  An employee or other worker with some particular function or skill.
noun:  A spy, secret agent, or detective.
noun:  A participant in an operation.

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    olive,     charcoal,     graphite,     midnight,     teal, more...



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