How to Use operative in a Sentence

operative

1 of 2 adjective
Definition of operativenext
Synonyms for operativenext
  • The telephone system is now fully operative.
  • The factory must pass inspection before it becomes operative.
  • If I go, I will bring a salad. “If,” however, is the operative word, since I am not sure that I can go.
  • Fast was one of the operative words for the Seahawks where Hall was concerned.
    — Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 29 Apr. 2023
  • Matignon played the last two seasons as part of a co-operative team with Revere and Malden.
    — Jim Clark, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Live is the operative word here, always has been, still is.
    — Mary Schmich, chicagotribune.com, 15 May 2021
  • The mid-80s brought a cascade of rental-to-co-operative conversions to New York.
    — Frederick Peters, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2021
  • In 1981 a co-operative bought the valley from the Faralya villagers.
    — Lisa Morrow, CNN, 25 Mar. 2022
  • The telescope feature worked well for a pass-the-controller co-operative play.
    — Andy Robertson, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
  • Pieces, like the shards of rock left at Ford Stadium, being the operative word.
    — Dallas News, 27 July 2022
  • But small was the operative word to describe that group of critics: a lawyer here, a professor there.
    — Gilad Edelman, Wired, 2 Mar. 2022
  • The date of the first transaction will determine which version of the law will be operative for the base-year transfer.
    — Kathleen Pender, SFChronicle.com, 17 Oct. 2020
  • The initial operative word of the night was effortless.
    — Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 12 Jan. 2024
  • And that in turn becomes an operative thing for the performance.
    — Jasper Marsalis, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2023
  • Those are the operative words in the previous sentence.
    — Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2021
  • Austin Slater played unlikely hero to launch the second half, launch being the operative word.
    — Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 July 2021
  • And people will treat that as a must have, even when distance learning is no longer operative.
    — Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2020
  • In an ice rink showdown near the end of the season, Jenny fights a Russian operative wearing ice skates.
    — Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 11 Feb. 2022
  • The graph below reveals the most valuable cycles that are operative at any one time.
    — Bill Sarubbi, Forbes, 3 July 2022
  • When the operative Marvin Lucas seeks him out at the start of the film, McKay is working at a legal aid clinic.
    — Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 25 Apr. 2022
  • But, as of next week, whether Trump should be removed from office will no longer be an operative question.
    — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2021
  • The rest had early, non-metastatic breast cancer and were pre-operative.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 15 Aug. 2022
  • My favorite part of the Greenpeace videos is this piece, in which its operative interviews Cong.
    — David Blackmon, Forbes, 3 July 2021
  • The rezoning of the Senior Co-operative Living Project.
    — Brandi Addison, Dallas News, 2 Dec. 2020
  • The operative jokes about former Infowars staff member Joe Biggs with the Jones' son.
    — Michael Murney, Chron, 27 Sep. 2022
  • That old sort of great song that helps identify an operative culture or a moment in time.
    — Anne Steele, WSJ, 19 Jan. 2022
  • Meanwhile, Germany’s suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is less than meets the eye, since the pipeline was not yet operative.
    — The Editors, National Review, 25 Feb. 2022
  • Tillamook, a dairy co-operative in Oregon, shifted to 48-ounce ice cream containers from 56 ounces while keeping the price the same, in the face of higher costs.
    — Heather Haddon, WSJ, 14 July 2021
  • Lots of co-operative fish, some good eaters and a shot at some really big, slab-sided fish as the waters continue to cool.
    — Jim Gronaw, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 27 Oct. 2019
  • The operative word is controlled because asthma is mostly because of spasms of the breathing tubes.
    — Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press, 9 Mar. 2020
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operative

2 of 2 noun
  • CIA operatives take terrible risks to find out the secrets of foreign countries.
  • In the first part of the mission, the operatives don full scuba gear.
    — Sarah Parvini, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2023
  • November is a strait-laced, by-the-book CIA operative who has command of the agency’s office in Venezuela.
    — Demetrius Patterson, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 July 2023
  • Fubar will see Schwarzenegger star as a former CIA operative who learns his daughter has become one as well when the two are forced to join forces.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Leonard Leo, who is a common operative between the two, runs another dozen or so front groups.
    — Nbc Universal, NBC News, 28 May 2023
  • The camera captures Navalny and Pevchikh exchanging high fives and delirious smiles as the operative spills the details.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2023
  • This is when the F.S.B. operatives, together with the chemists and doctors, started to follow Navalny.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2023
  • Her background as a political operative is to her benefit — knowing how to bend laws and politicians to your will is part of the role.
    — Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
  • In the thermal view, the video highlights a group of what appears to be four operatives throwing two objects which explode just seconds after.
    — Greg Wehner, Fox News, 25 Oct. 2023
  • In response to the attack, Israeli forces killed a Hezbollah operative, with Lebanese media reporting the deaths of three civilians in the Israeli reprisal.
    — Forbes International, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
  • The operative declined to name this group of Republicans.
    — Daniel Strauss, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2023
  • This comes in addition to the announcement of the arrest of seven Hamas operatives in Denmark today.
    — Hala Gorani, NBC News, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Jason Statham stars in the film as Adam Clay, a former operative who sets out to exact revenge after his friend falls for a ruinous phishing scam and dies by suicide.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 14 Jan. 2024
  • The Kakhovka dam collapsed June 6 for unknown reasons, though signs point to Russian operatives blowing it up.
    — John Bacon, USA TODAY, 18 July 2023
  • Local intelligence operatives told them that at least three of their neighbors had denounced them to the Russians.
    — Valerie Hopkins Emile Ducke, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2023
  • But an embittered ex-special forces operative, Joshua (John David Washington), has his eyes opened about who the real oppressors are and who just wants to live in peace.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sep. 2023
  • The Israeli military said another of the group’s operatives was also killed in Friday’s strike.
    — Isabel Kershner, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2023
  • The Republican operative and ex-con (Trump pardoned him in 2020) would be divulging Richard Nixon’s secret recipe.
    — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
  • In a first-look teaser, the actor renews his funny-man chops — and shows off his famous muscles — while playing a CIA operative whose family gets in the way of his duties.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Israel has said some of the sites, including the Islamic University of Gaza, were used by Hamas operatives.
    — Mohamad El Chamaa, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Hamas had added about 6,000 operatives to its ranks since the war ended, and the military had learned that Hamas was developing plans to storm Israeli communities and take hostages.
    — Justin Scheck, New York Times, 16 Dec. 2023
  • The accusation surfaced last week in a court filing by lawyers for Trump 2020 campaign operative Mike Roman.
    — Harold Maass, The Week Us, theweek, 19 Jan. 2024
  • For a long time, political operatives believed that Biden’s fortunes were tied to the economy.
    — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2024
  • Yet should would-be candidates continue to avoid CPAC, operatives said that could change the media perception of the event which could result in fewer headlines.
    — Libby Cathey, ABC News, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Since then, Democrats have been keen on winning it back, with party operatives mounting ad campaigns and a redistricting court fight in hopes of reclaiming his seat.
    — Ryan King, Washington Examiner, 9 May 2023
  • David Kochel, a longtime Iowa Republican operative who has been an adviser to Reynolds, was not so subtle.
    — Isabella Murray, ABC News, 14 July 2023
  • The European intelligence made clear that the would-be attackers were not rogue operatives.
    — Shane Harris and Souad Mekhennet, Anchorage Daily News, 6 June 2023
  • Israel estimates the unit’s strength at thousands of operatives.
    — Sarah Dadouch, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The Biden campaign is also in the process of hiring other party operatives for senior roles, but people familiar with the talks say building the staff is expected to take some time over the next few weeks and throughout the summer.
    — Ed O'Keefe, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The movie, starring Jason Statham as a former operative who exacts revenge on behalf of his friend, was produced and financed by Miramax.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 28 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'operative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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