Synonyms of operatives

operatives

noun

plural of operative

1

as in spies

a person who tries secretly to obtain information for one country in the territory of another usually unfriendly country

CIA operatives take terrible risks to find out the secrets of foreign countries

Synonyms & Similar Words

• spies
• agents
• assets
• informers
• moles
• emissaries
• spooks
• undercover agents
• undercovers
• secret agents
• couriers
• infiltrators
• intelligencers
• sleepers
• counterspies
• double agents
• stool pigeons
• spymasters
• superspies

2

as in detectives

a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons

set in the 1930s, the novel is about a washed-out operative working for a third-rate detective agency

Synonyms & Similar Words

• detectives
• investigators
• sleuths
• private detectives
• dicks
• gumshoes
• private investigators
• private eyes
• sleuthhounds
• shadows
• trackers
• sherlocks
• tracers
• hawkshaws
• shamuses
• plainclothesmen
• feds
• narcs
• tails
• G-men
• Federals

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of operatives

Neither allowed al-Qaeda to establish new training camps, and Pakistani authorities, in particular, regularly helped the United States arrest and kill the group’s operatives. — Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2026

Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play veteran CIA operatives who, after helping destabilize Salvador Allende’s government in 1973 Chile, head to Easter Island on a more personal assignment. — Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Brown’s ability to hammer Husted on this issue is alarming Republican operatives, who see a Husted victory as crucial to holding a majority in the Senate. — Dan Kaufman, New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2026

Painstaking analysis of 319 tons of wreckage and thousands of pieces of evidence from a crime scene covering 845 square miles, along with thousands of interviews in 16 countries, eventually led investigators to two Libyan intelligence operatives. — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 27 Aug. 2026

Again, this inevitably ends up giving the game more of a Rebellion-era feel, as each of your operatives holds some kind of dark secret or goal that has led them to Zero Company. — Hayes Madsen, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026

On Wednesday, according to the complaint, the operatives handed Bowie a gun, ammunition and an inert explosive, then gave her instructions on how to use them. — ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026

Wild Horse Nine stars Malkovich and Rockwell as two CIA operatives who travel from Santiago, Chile, to Easter Island amid the tense lead-up to the South American nation’s 1973 coup. — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 19 Aug. 2026

Israel continues to clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Hamas operatives in Gaza, while the Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea. — Arsalan Shahla, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2026