operationally, adv.
(ɒpəˈreɪʃənəlɪ)
[f. as prec. + -ly2.]
In terms of, or as regards, operation(s), esp. the operations required to define a concept or term (cf. operationalism).
| 1927 Jrnl. Philos. XXIV. 663 Every concept must henceforth be defined operationally, i.e., we know what a concept means when we know what operations must be performed in order to produce an instance of that concept. 1934 Times 26 June (Air Suppl.) p. xvii/2 It was decided, therefore, shortly after the War ended that the third Service, the Royal Air Force, should be operationally responsible for the units..engaged in the air defence of the country. 1948 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. XLIII. 143/1 There remains the evanescent residual category of ‘personality’, at once too broad to be operationally useful..and too ubiquitous to be neglected. 1951 [see operationist a. and n.]. 1965 J. D. North Measure of Universe viii. 152 The belief that any theory must be provided with a ‘sound conceptual foundation’ is..often closely allied to the doctrine of operationalism, coinciding with that variant form according to which every concept must be explicitly ‘operationally defined’, even if only hypothetically so. 1972 Science 5 May 545/3 It is operationally impossible to distinguish between selection at a single locus and selection for closely linked genes. 1975 Daily Tel. 30 May 2/3 Operationally, the occasion on which the drop of a complete parachute brigade would be required and feasible has for long seemed remote. |