Operate
Operate verb - To produce a desired effect.
Usage example: the medicine will take an hour or so to operate the first time you use it
Perform is a synonym for operate in function topic. In some cases you can use "Perform" instead a verb "Operate", when it comes to topics like work, action. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- Plenty in the Xenogears LP: Citan Uzuki being a dick who ducks out of boss fights, as well as explaining how he knows various things or how to perform/operate outlandish stuff as having learnt them in medical school.
Source: Lets Play / The Dark Id -
The planet Noveria in Mass Effect exists as a place for Corrupt Corporate Executives to operate and perform research outside the bounds of Citadel law.
Source: Corrupt Corporate Executive - Being a surgeon, the ability to perform operations is fitting, but living things are not the only thing he can operate on and the word "operate" itself is not limited to a medical context.
Source: Semantic Superpower
Cite this Source
Perform and Operate. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/operate/perform
Operate & Perform. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/operate/perform>.
Perform or Operate. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/operate/perform.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "operate" and "perform" have occurred on timeline