operationally
/ˌɒpəˈreɪʃənəli/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌɑːpəˈreɪʃənəli/ (ame, ipa) · /¦äpə¦rāshənᵊl|ē, -shnəl|, |i/ (ame, mw)
operationally — adverb
1. with regard to the daily work, processes, and practical running of a company, gr
with regard to the daily work, processes, and practical running of a company, group, or system — for example, deciding how teams are organised, how schedules are set, or how a factory is kept moving.
Operationally, the airline is ready to launch the new Lisbon route next Monday.
sentence-initial 'Operationally,' framing a whole-organization readiness statement
Ayesha argued that the bakery chain could not afford to expand operationally without hiring more night staff.
post-verbal 'expand operationally' — collocation with growth verbs
The two hospitals are run as one charity, but operationally they remain quite separate.
Tamás warned the board that the merger would be difficult operationally for at least a year.
Operationally speaking, the small clinic in Ghana cannot match the city hospital's staffing or supply chain.
- logistically
focuses on supply, scheduling, and movement of resources rather than full daily running
- administratively
covers paperwork, rules, and management decisions more than physical running
- financially
looks at money rather than day-to-day running
- strategically
looks at long-term plans rather than daily running
文法句型
operationally + adjective
operationally + verb
用法筆記
Subject of the sentence is usually an organisation, programme, or system, and the comment is about how it runs day-to-day — not whether it is funded, legal, or popular. Often sits sentence-initial as a framing adverb ('Operationally, …') or modifies an adjective describing readiness or difficulty ('operationally ready', 'difficult operationally').
常見錯誤
2. from the point of view of how something actually behaves or performs while it is
from the point of view of how something actually behaves or performs while it is being used — typically said of a machine, software product, scientific definition, or piece of equipment under real working conditions.
The new battery looks impressive on paper, but operationally it lasts barely two hours in cold weather.
contrastive 'on paper … operationally' — performance under real use vs spec sheet
Kofi defined intelligence operationally as the score a child obtains on a standard reasoning test.
collocation 'define X operationally as …' — scientific operational definition
Sumin's team showed that the two robot arms are operationally equivalent when given the same task.
The cooling system is operationally sound, although the manual still warns users to clean it every week.
Engineers in Manuela's lab tested the drone operationally for forty hours before approving the design.
- functionally
very close; emphasises the role or job a thing performs rather than its real-world behaviour
- practically
broader; means 'in practice' across many topics, not only technical performance
- theoretically
describes how something should behave in principle, not how it does behave in use
- nominally
describes the stated rating, not the real performance under use
文法句型
operationally + adjective (feasible / sound / equivalent)
tested operationally
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense talks about how a thing performs or is measured during actual use, not about how an organisation runs. Common in engineering, science, and academic writing, often with adjectives like 'feasible', 'sound', 'equivalent', or in the phrase 'define X operationally'.