operative
Synonyms and Antonyms of operative
- CIA operatives take terrible risks to find out the secrets of foreign countries
agent, asset, emissary, intelligencer, mole, spook, spy, undercover
- set in the 1930s, the novel is about a washed-out operative working for a third-rate detective agency
detective, dick, gumshoe, hawkshaw, investigator, private detective, private eye, private investigator, shamus [slang], sherlock, sleuth, sleuthhound