operated

Operated is the past tense and past participle of the verb operate. It has several related senses: to perform a surgical procedure on someone or something, to control or use a machine or system, and to function or be active in a specified way.

Etymology traces the word to the Latin root operare, via Old French operer, meaning to work or perform, with the noun form operation and the related verb evolve into English as operate and its past forms, including operated.

Medical usage is common in clinical language. To operate on a patient means to perform surgery. The phrase “the patient was operated on” is a standard construction, with the operation described as successful or unsuccessful. In this sense, operated functions as the passive form of the verb, indicating that surgery occurred rather than the patient performing the action.

In mechanical and technical contexts, to operate a device or system means to control or use it. For example, a technician may operate heavy machinery or a computer system may be operated remotely. Here, operated describes the state resulting from someone’s action in controlling the device.

As a past participle, operated also appears in passive constructions and as an adjective in some technical phrases, though it is primarily a verb form in everyday usage. Related terms include operation, operator, and operating.