operant

See also: opérant

English

Etymology

From Middle English operant, from Latin operāns.

Adjective

operant (comparative more operant, superlative most operant)

1. That operates to produce an effect.

   thy most operant poison

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →ISBN, page 117:

     I tell you frankly, if Paul Aubry is guilty I hope is convicted and punished; but if one of the others is guilty I hope he—or she—is punished, and if I knew anything operant to that end I certainly would not withhold it.

Synonyms

• operative

Antonyms

• inoperant

Derived terms

• inoperant
• operancy
• operant conditioning

Noun

operant (plural operants)

1. An operative person or thing.
2. (psychology) Any of a class of behaviors that produce consequences by operating (i.e., acting) upon the environment.

See also

• Skinner box

Anagrams

• Paterno, Protean, pronate, protean, tropane

Catalan

Verb

operant

1. gerund of operar

Latin

Verb

operant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of operō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French opérant.

Adjective

operant m or n (feminine singular operantă, masculine plural operanți, feminine and neuter plural operante)

1. operant

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	operant		operantă		operanți	operante
	definite	operantul		operanta		operanții	operantele
genitive- dative	indefinite	operant		operante		operanți	operante
	definite	operantului		operantei		operanților	operantelor