Operationalize

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /É’pəˈɹeɪʃ(É™)nÉ™lʌɪz/
• US IPA: /ˌɑpəˈɹeɪʃənəˌlaɪz/

Alternative forms

• operationalise

Origin

From operational + -ize.

Full definition of operationalize

Verb

1. (transitive) To make operational.
2. (transitive, social sciences) To define (a concept) in such a way that it can be practically measured.
• 1956, Ernest Greenwood, "New Directions in Delinquency Research: A Commentary on a Study by Bernard Lander," Social Service Review, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 152:To operationalize a concept is to identify those variables in terms of which the phenomenon represented by the concept can be accurately observed.
• 2012, Adam Zeman, ‘Only Connect’, Literary Review, issue 399:Vision seems ‘childishly simple’ to us but proves to be fiendishly hard to operationalise, precisely because we are so good at it.

Derived terms