Operational

How to spell operational

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce operational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does operational mean?

1. adjectiveIn working order, ready for use, or relating to the running of a system or activity.

Operational in a sentence

• The new factory will be fully operational by March.

• The team reviewed the operational costs before approving the budget.

Where does operational come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb operari, meaning 'to work' or 'to labour', which itself grew from opus, the Latin noun for 'a work' or 'a task'. From operari English inherited 'operate' and the noun 'operation', the latter arriving through the Latin operatio, meaning 'a working' or 'a performance of action'. The adjective 'operational' was assembled later, in the nineteenth century, by adding the familiar -al suffix to 'operation' to describe something that is in working order or relates to the running of a process. The same opus root surfaces in everyday relatives such as 'opera' (a work of music) and 'cooperate' (to work together). The spelling is mostly regular, though writers sometimes stumble over the middle, since the -ation- string of vowels is easy to slur when the word is spoken quickly.

How the word is built

• oper- (from operari: to work)
• -ation (noun-forming)
• -al (adjective suffix)