the operative word

operative | American Dictionary

operative
adjective
us/ˈɑp·ər·ə·t̬ɪv/
working, or in existence:
Our computerized stock-control system is now operative.
I’m looking for a large, affordable apartment – and "affordable" is the operative word (= it has special importance).

operative | Business English

operative
noun[ C ]
uk /ˈɒpərətɪv/us
HR, WORKPLACE
a worker:
a database/call-centre/factory operative
operative
adjective
uk /ˈɒpərətɪv/us
working or being used:
The agreement will not become operative until all members have signed.
The green light comes on when the machine is operative.

Examples of operative

operative
This must be the ultimate goal for operative treatment.
The therapeutic options for early and late postoperative thrombosis are operative removal or thrombolytic therapy.
Refinements in operative technique and perioperative management have been largely responsible for this improved outlook.
These principles may be operative in the use of token economies with so-called "treatment-refractory" schizophrenia patients.
Second, there was a positive operative mortality for both emergency and elective surgery patients (38% and 4%, respectively).
These possibilities are not mutually exclusive, of course, and both could be operative for any given substrate polypeptide.
Why did the fears become operative at this time?
In our experience, it is the patient with unequal orifices in whom the preoperative (and in one case operative) diagnosis is difficult to make.
Operative denitions of "coercion" have been critically important in this debate.
To muster support, therefore, new frames must respond to those already operative.
Moreover, these deficits are operative irrespective of maternal depression.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.