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Valid in these dictionaries

TWL/NWL (Scrabble US/CA/TH)
SOWPODS/CSW (Scrabble UK / ALL)
ENABLE (Words with Friends)

Meaning of operative

1 definition found

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  operative
      adj 1: being in force or having or exerting force; "operative
             regulations"; "the major tendencies operative in the
             American political system" [ant: {inoperative}]
      2: relating to or requiring or amenable to treatment by surgery
         especially as opposed to medicine; "a surgical appendix"; "a
         surgical procedure"; "operative dentistry" [syn: {surgical},
         {operative}] [ant: {medical}]
      3: effective; producing a desired effect; "the operative word"
      4: (of e.g. a machine) performing or capable of performing; "in
         running (or working) order"; "a functional set of brakes"
         [syn: {running(a)}, {operative}, {functional}, {working(a)}]
      n 1: a person secretly employed in espionage for a government
           [syn: {secret agent}, {intelligence officer}, {intelligence
           agent}, {operative}]
      2: someone who can be employed as a detective to collect
         information [syn: {private detective}, {PI}, {private eye},
         {private investigator}, {operative}, {shamus}, {sherlock}]

Source : WordNet ® Princeton University. 2010.

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OCTWL / TWL : The official dictionary for scrabble game in United States, Canada and Thailand.
SOWPODS / CSW : UK and the rest of the world uses this dictionary for various word games including scrabble.
ENABLE - This is the default dictionary for Words with Friends.

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