operative

Universal Words noun, adjective noun 1 (technical) a worker, especially one who works with their hands: a factory operative * skilled / unskilled operatives 2 (especially AmE) a person who does secret work, especially for a government organization: an intelligence operative adjective 1 [notusuallybeforenoun] ready to be used; in use: This law becomes operative immediately. * The station will be fully operative again in January. 2 [onlybeforenoun] (medical) connected with a medical operation: operative mortality / treatment seealsoPOST-OPERATIVE IDIOMS the operative word used to emphasize that a particular word or phrase is the most important one in a sentence: I was in love with her-'was' being the operative word.