different between operate vs operant

English

Etymology

From Latin oper?tus, past participle of oper?r? (“to work, labor, toil, have effect”), from opus, operis (“work, labor”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p??e?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??p??e?t/
• Hyphenation: op?er?ate

Verb

operate (third-person singular simple present operates, present participle operating, simple past and past participle operated)

1. (transitive or intransitive) To perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.
2. (transitive or intransitive) To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (medicine) to take appropriate effect on the human system.
3. (transitive or intransitive) To act or produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence.
   • September 28, 1706, Francis Atterbury, a sermon

     The virtues of private persons operate but on a few.

   • 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman

     A plain, convincing reason operates on the mind both of a learned and ignorant hearer as long as they live.

4. (medicine, transitive or intransitive) To perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health, as in amputation, lithotomy, etc.
5. (transitive or intransitive) To deal in stocks or any commodity with a view to speculative profits.
6. (transitive or intransitive) To produce, as an effect; to cause.
7. (transitive or intransitive) To put into, or to continue in, operation or activity; to work.

Derived terms

• inter-operate
• operatable

Related terms

Translations

References

• operate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• operate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Adjective

operate pl

1. plural of operata

Verb

operate

1. second-person plural present of operare
2. second-person plural imperative of operare
3. feminine plural past participle of operare

Anagrams

• poetare
• poeterà

Latin

Participle

oper?te

1. vocative masculine singular of oper?tus

English

Adjective

operant (comparative more operant, superlative most operant)

1. That operates to produce an effect.

   • thy most operant poison

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, page 117:

     I tell you frankly, if Paul Aubry is guilty I hope is convicted and punished; but if one of the others is guilty I hope he—or she—is punished, and if I knew anything operant to that end I certainly would not withhold it.

Derived terms

• inoperant
• operancy
• operant conditioning

Synonyms

• operative

Antonyms

• inoperant

Noun

operant (plural operants)

1. An operative person or thing.
2. (psychology) Any of a class of behaviors that produce consequences by operating (i.e., acting) upon the environment.

See also

• Skinner box

Anagrams

• Paterno, Protean, pronate, protean, tropane

Catalan

Verb

operant

1. present participle of operar

Latin

Verb

operant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of oper?