ops
2 synonyms for ops, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — Short for "operations" — the practical, day-to-day running of a business, military mission, or IT system.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
How to use ops
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
ops team
day-to-day ops
special ops
Informal; common in business, military, gaming, and tech contexts.
Etymology
This is a learned borrowing from Latin Ops, taken from Latin ops (“resources, wealth”). That word traces back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-(i)-, *h₃op-(i)- (“force, ability”), from the *h₃ep- base.
Full origin of ops →Frequently asked questions
What does “ops” mean?
The word “ops” means short for "operations" — the practical, day-to-day running of a business, military mission, or IT system. In plain terms, casual shorthand for "operations" — the hands-on running of something.
How do you use “ops” in a sentence?
Here is “ops” used in a sentence: “The ops team handled the server outage overnight.”
What part of speech is “ops”?
“Ops” is a noun.
Is “ops” a common word?
“Ops” is a fairly common word in modern English.
How many meanings does “ops” have?
“Ops” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: short for "operations" — the practical, day-to-day running of a business, military mission, or IT system.
What is the difference between ops and operations?
Ops is simply an informal shortening of "operations," referring to the practical, day-to-day running of a business, military mission, or IT system. The full word "operations" is used in more formal writing, while "ops" is common in casual speech and industry jargon, such as "DevOps" or "IT ops."
What does ops mean in video games?
In video games, ops (or "op" status) refers to a status granting a player administrative or operator privileges, such as the ability to moderate a server or change game settings. This usage is common in multiplayer games like Minecraft.
Is ops always plural in meaning?
Ops looks plural because it ends in "s," but it functions as a shortened form of the mass noun "operations" and is generally treated as a single collective concept, as in "the ops team." It is rarely used to count individual operations one by one.
