Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not working or functioning.
- adjective No longer in force; countermanded.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not operative or operating; destitute of activity or of effect; inert: as, laws rendered inoperative by neglect; inoperative remedies.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not operative; not active; producing no effects
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective not
working orfunctioning ; eitheridle orbroken - adjective law No longer
legally binding
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not working or taking effect
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“Dallas pays ACS [the camera provider] a guaranteed $3,799 per month for each operational camera, and just a fraction of that to maintain inoperative cameras.”
Your City Needs You to Blow Through Red Lights - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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This aspect of aesthetic community is not the same as what another French philosopher, Jean-Luc Nancy, terms the "inoperative community," the longing for the original idea of community that was lost or broken in the transition to modernity, the dialectic of what sociologists term Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.
Vince Carducci: Aesthetic Community in Detroit Vince Carducci 2011
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This aspect of aesthetic community is not the same as what another French philosopher, Jean-Luc Nancy, terms the "inoperative community," the longing for the original idea of community that was lost or broken in the transition to modernity, the dialectic of what sociologists term Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.
Vince Carducci: Aesthetic Community in Detroit Vince Carducci 2011
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I'm not sure why the creators of the site felt the need to sneer at attempts to revive the language "The good folk of Adelaide will not accept the learning of an ancient language as a substitute for English because of sentimental reasons"—or why the site renders my Back button inoperative, which is extremely annoying—but it's an interesting enough site I'm posting it anyway.
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Long, however, before mesmerism was heard of, medical history attests examples in which patients who baffled the skill of the ablest physicians have fixed their fancies on some remedy that physicians would call inoperative for good or for harm, and have recovered by the remedies thus singularly self-suggested.
A Strange Story — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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Long, however, before mesmerism was heard of, medical history attests examples in which patients who baffled the skill of the ablest physicians have fixed their fancies on some remedy that physicians would call inoperative for good or for harm, and have recovered by the remedies thus singularly self-suggested.
A Strange Story — Volume 08 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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In the case Thursday, Sullenberger was forced to glide because both engines were inoperative, which is highly unusual.
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There is every indication that he will find language the satisfies him that his referendum pledge is "inoperative," as Richard Nixon once said about his promises.
Giving Up Sovereignty Is a High Price to Save a Currency U.K. Never Adopted Irwin Stelzer 2010
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Administrations make language of past Administrations on certain issues 'inoperative'. 15 years after Reagan no one was repeating his cant about "the beloved Holy Mujahadeen Freedom Fighters" of Afghanistan.
"Barack Obama extended the olive branch to Iran's leaders last Friday in a videotaped message praising a 'great civilization'..." Ann Althouse 2009
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His own aides embarrassed him last November by failing to give him the full details of Cheney's latest heart attack; Bush went before the cameras to offer blithe assurances that were later rendered "inoperative," as they said in Dick Nixon's days.
Right From The Start 2008
dailyword commented on the word inoperative
This word was used a lot on Star Trek when something wasn't working.
August 29, 2013