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

The operatives were also directed to obtain information about the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft and upcoming flights. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2026

Kenney said the movement also became more professional, building organizations, raising money and drawing in political operatives with campaign and fundraising experience. — ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026

And Republican political operatives and independent election observers CNBC spoke with say the money hasn't had the effects its magnitude would be expected to in voter sentiment. — Luke Fountain, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026

Were the animals dropped with the intention that some other criminal operatives would come and pick them up for the next leg of their journey? — Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026

Jamal allegedly promised to protect the Feeding Our Future operatives against the threat of prosecution, took their money, and then turned some of them over to investigators. — Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026

To the continued amazement of advantage players, casino operatives can argue with apparent conviction that card counting— essentially mental arithmetic—is a form of fraud. — Kit Chellel, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2026

Sandinista operatives are suspected in a series of shootings, abductions and killings of Nicaraguan exiles in Costa Rica in recent years. — Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026

Pursuing Leamas and Doris are Josef Fiedler (Brühl) and Hans-Dieter Mundt (Kammerer), two Stasi operatives whose ferocious desire to shut down the intelligence leak is matched only by their internal rivalry and an iron will to outmatch each other. — Alex Ritman, Variety, 28 Sep. 2026