Noun

(wikipedia governance) (en noun)

The process, or the power, of governing; government or administration.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter , title=The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , volume=100, issue=2, page=87 , magazine= citation , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}

The specific system by which a political system is ruled.

The group of people who make up an administrative body.

The state of being governed.

(management) Accountability for consistent, cohesive policies, processes and decision rights.

Noun

(en noun)

The method by which a device performs its function.

It is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser while it is in operation .

The method or practice by which actions are done.

The act or process of operating; agency; the exertion of power, physical, mechanical, or moral.

* John Locke

The pain and sickness caused by manna are the effects of its operation on the stomach.

* Dryden

Speculative painting, without the assistance of manual operation , can never attain to perfection.

A planned undertaking.

The police ran an operation to get vagrants off the streets.

The ''Katrina'' relief operation was considered botched.

A business or organization.

We run our operation from a storefront.

They run a multinational produce-supply operation .

(medicine) a surgical procedure.

She had an operation to remove her appendix.

(computing, logic, mathematics) a procedure for generating a value from one or more other values (the operands).

(military) a military campaign (e.g. )

(obsolete) Effect produced; influence.

* Fuller

The bards had great operation on the vulgar.