"smooth operator" meaning in English

See smooth operator in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-smooth operator.ogg [Australia] Forms: smooth operators [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} smooth operator (plural smooth operators)
  1. A person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace, especially one with verbal skills who is persuasive in interpersonal relationships, negotiation, etc. Categories (topical): People Translations (person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace): sulava [adjective] (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-smooth_operator-en-noun-xrdcyhKD Disambiguation of People: 51 49 Disambiguation of 'person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace': 76 24
  2. A skillful, manipulative person, con artist, or clever scoundrel. Categories (topical): People Translations (manipulative person): lipevä [adjective] (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-smooth_operator-en-noun-WnvdVxSY Disambiguation of People: 51 49 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 25 75 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 15 85 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 23 77 Disambiguation of 'manipulative person': 29 71

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for smooth operator meaning in English (3.6kB)

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "smooth operators",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "smooth operator (plural smooth operators)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1986 February 10, “American Notes: Agriculture”, in Time, archived from the original on 2008-12-21",
          "text": "In Washington he has earned a reputation as a smooth operator who can handle lobbyists, bureaucrats and even Congressmen, with a cool head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 March 17, Andy Katz, “Tourney Trail”, in ESPN.com, retrieved 2008-10-13",
          "text": "Alexander lit up Connecticut for 34 points in a Big East quarterfinal win last week. He is a smooth operator who can score in a variety of ways.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace, especially one with verbal skills who is persuasive in interpersonal relationships, negotiation, etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-smooth_operator-en-noun-xrdcyhKD",
      "links": [
        [
          "efficiency",
          "efficiency"
        ],
        [
          "grace",
          "grace"
        ],
        [
          "verbal",
          "verbal"
        ],
        [
          "persuasive",
          "persuasive"
        ],
        [
          "interpersonal",
          "interpersonal"
        ],
        [
          "relationship",
          "relationship"
        ],
        [
          "negotiation",
          "negotiation"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace",
          "tags": [
            "adjective"
          ],
          "word": "sulava"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "25 75",
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        },
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1972 September 29, Fred Wright, “Film Review: Sex Film Minus Punchline?”, in St. Petersburg Independent, retrieved 2008-10-13, page 5-B",
          "text": "He plays the hospital administrator, a fast-talking smooth operator who cons patients and doctors alike.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, “Smooth Operator”, in Diamond Life, performed by Sade",
          "text": "His eyes are like angels', his heart is cold / No need to ask / He's a smooth operator",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A skillful, manipulative person, con artist, or clever scoundrel."
      ],
      "id": "en-smooth_operator-en-noun-WnvdVxSY",
      "links": [
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          "skillful",
          "skillful"
        ],
        [
          "manipulative",
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        ],
        [
          "con artist",
          "con artist"
        ],
        [
          "clever",
          "clever"
        ],
        [
          "scoundrel",
          "scoundrel"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "29 71",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "manipulative person",
          "tags": [
            "adjective"
          ],
          "word": "lipevä"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-smooth operator.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2b/En-au-smooth_operator.ogg/En-au-smooth_operator.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/En-au-smooth_operator.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
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  "word": "smooth operator"
}
{
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    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
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    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
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    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
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  "forms": [
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  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1986 February 10, “American Notes: Agriculture”, in Time, archived from the original on 2008-12-21",
          "text": "In Washington he has earned a reputation as a smooth operator who can handle lobbyists, bureaucrats and even Congressmen, with a cool head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 March 17, Andy Katz, “Tourney Trail”, in ESPN.com, retrieved 2008-10-13",
          "text": "Alexander lit up Connecticut for 34 points in a Big East quarterfinal win last week. He is a smooth operator who can score in a variety of ways.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace, especially one with verbal skills who is persuasive in interpersonal relationships, negotiation, etc."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "efficiency",
          "efficiency"
        ],
        [
          "grace",
          "grace"
        ],
        [
          "verbal",
          "verbal"
        ],
        [
          "persuasive",
          "persuasive"
        ],
        [
          "interpersonal",
          "interpersonal"
        ],
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          "relationship",
          "relationship"
        ],
        [
          "negotiation",
          "negotiation"
        ]
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1972 September 29, Fred Wright, “Film Review: Sex Film Minus Punchline?”, in St. Petersburg Independent, retrieved 2008-10-13, page 5-B",
          "text": "He plays the hospital administrator, a fast-talking smooth operator who cons patients and doctors alike.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, “Smooth Operator”, in Diamond Life, performed by Sade",
          "text": "His eyes are like angels', his heart is cold / No need to ask / He's a smooth operator",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A skillful, manipulative person, con artist, or clever scoundrel."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "skillful",
          "skillful"
        ],
        [
          "manipulative",
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        ],
        [
          "con artist",
          "con artist"
        ],
        [
          "clever",
          "clever"
        ],
        [
          "scoundrel",
          "scoundrel"
        ]
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/En-au-smooth_operator.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person who accomplishes tasks with efficiency and grace",
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "sulava"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "manipulative person",
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "lipevä"
    }
  ],
  "word": "smooth operator"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.