The difference between Drive and Operate

When used as verbs, drive means to impel or urge onward by force, whereas operate means to perform a work or labour.


Drive is also noun with the meaning: motivation to do or achieve something.

check bellow for the other definitions of Drive and Operate

  1. Drive as a noun:

    Motivation to do or achieve something; ability coupled with ambition.

    Examples:

    "Crassus had [[wealth]] and [[wit]], but Pompey had drive and Caesar as much again."

  2. Drive as a noun:

    Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; especially, a forced or hurried dispatch of business.

  3. Drive as a noun:

    An act of driving animals forward, such as to be captured, hunted etc.

  4. Drive as a noun (military):

    A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take a strategic objective.

    Examples:

    "Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as [[determined]] as it was [[disastrous]]."

  5. Drive as a noun:

    A motor that does not take fuel, but instead depends on a mechanism that stores potential energy for subsequent use.

    Examples:

    "Some old model trains have clockwork drives."

  6. Drive as a noun:

    A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).

    Examples:

    "It was a long drive."

  7. Drive as a noun:

    A driveway.

    Examples:

    "The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive."

  8. Drive as a noun:

    A type of public roadway.

    Examples:

    "Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive."

  9. Drive as a noun (dated):

    A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

  10. Drive as a noun (psychology):

    Desire or interest.

  11. Drive as a noun (computing):

    An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk, as a floppy drive.

  12. Drive as a noun (computing):

    A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data, as a hard drive, a flash drive.

  13. Drive as a noun (golf):

    A stroke made with a driver.

  14. Drive as a noun (baseball, tennis):

    A ball struck in a flat trajectory.

  15. Drive as a noun (cricket):

    A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc, through the line of the ball, and hitting it along the ground, normally between cover and midwicket.

  16. Drive as a noun (soccer):

    A straight level shot or pass.

  17. Drive as a noun (American football):

    An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.

  18. Drive as a noun:

    A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.

    Examples:

    "a whist drive; a beetle drive"

  19. Drive as a noun (typography):

    An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.

  20. Drive as a noun:

    A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

  1. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

    Examples:

    "to drive sheep out of a field"

  2. Drive as a verb (transitive, intransitive):

    To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

  3. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause animals to flee out of.

    Examples:

    "rfex the example is not exactly about an action described by the definition. the example is about driving brambles, not about driving animals. The beaters drove the brambles, causing a great rush of rabbits and other creatures."

  4. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To move (something) by hitting it with great force.

    Examples:

    "You drive nails into wood with a hammer."

  5. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause (a mechanism) to operate.

    Examples:

    "The pistons drive the crankshaft."

  6. Drive as a verb (transitive, ergative):

    To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

    Examples:

    "'drive a car"

  7. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

    Examples:

    "What drives a person to run a marathon?"

  8. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To compel (to do something).

    Examples:

    "Their debts finally drove them to sell the business."

  9. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To cause to become.

    Examples:

    "This constant complaining is going to drive me to insanity. You are driving me crazy!"

  10. Drive as a verb (intransitive, cricket, tennis, baseball):

    To hit the ball with a drive.

  11. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    Examples:

    "I drive to work every day."

  12. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    Examples:

    "My wife drove me to the airport."

  13. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To move forcefully.

  14. Drive as a verb (intransitive):

    To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).

  15. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

  16. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Francis Bacon"

  17. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

  18. Drive as a verb (mining):

    To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Tomlinson"

  19. Drive as a verb (American football):

    To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.

  20. Drive as a verb (obsolete):

    To distrain for rent.

  21. Drive as a verb (transitive):

    To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.

  22. Drive as a verb:

    To be the dominant party in a sex act.

  1. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act.

  2. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially to take appropriate effect on the human system.

  3. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To act or produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence.

  4. Operate as a verb (medicine, transitive, or, intransitive):

    To perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health, as in amputation, lithotomy, etc.

  5. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To deal in stocks or any commodity with a view to speculative profits.

  6. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To produce, as an effect; to cause.

  7. Operate as a verb (transitive, or, intransitive):

    To put into, or to continue in, operation or activity; to work.

    Examples:

    "to operate a machine"