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

A couple of left-wing political operatives saw Platner, an oyster farmer, in a local video opposing the development of a corporate salmon farm in Frenchman Bay, and matched his name to records of donors to Sanders’s campaigns. — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 26 July 2026

In search of a quick fix to the systemic issues within the Democratic Party, operatives pushed a candidate under the guise of authenticity. — Maria Comella, Vanity Fair, 23 July 2026

According to an official synopsis, season 3 of Lioness sees hidden networks, foreign operatives and personal betrayals collide, forcing Joe to walk the line between duty and home. — Yamillah Hurtado, PEOPLE, 16 July 2026

In season three, from creator and writer Taylor Sheridan, hidden networks, foreign operatives and personal betrayals collide. — David Hookstead Outkick, FOXNews.com, 16 July 2026

Unbeknownst to him, the bottle contained the same nerve agent investigators believe Russian operatives had used three months earlier to poison a former spy in nearby Salisbury. — Faith Karimi, CNN Money, 11 July 2026

Surveillance video outside city hall showed political operatives stuffing stacks of ballots into public drop boxes. — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 9 July 2026

For much of the year, Republican operatives have been quietly considering the real possibility that their party might lose the Senate. — ABC News, 8 July 2026

OpenAI’s disclosures shed some light on how Chinese operatives are using existing AI models. — Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026