operation

The method by which a device performs its function.uncountable

• It is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser while it is in operation.

The method or practice by which actions are done.uncountable

The act or process of operating (verb): agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.uncountable

• the pain and sickness caused by manna are confessedly nothing but the effects of its operations on the stomach and guts.
• Speculative painting, without the assistance of manual operation, can never attain to perfection.

A planned undertaking.countable

• The police ran an operation to get vagrants off the streets.
• The Katrina relief operation was considered botched.

A business or organization.countable

• We run our operation from a storefront.
• They run a multinational produce-supply operation.

A surgical procedure.countable

• She had an operation to remove her appendix.

A procedure for generating a value from one or more other values (the operands).countable

• The number of operands associated with an operation is called its arity; an operation of arity 2 is called a binary operation.

A procedure for generating a value from one or more other values (the operands).; A function which maps zero or more (but typically two) operands to a single output value.countable

A military campaign (e.g. Operation Desert Storm).countable

Effect produced; influence.countableobsolete

• The bards […] had great operation on the vulgar.