Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun ⟨ LL. cooperator, ⟨ cooperari, pp. cooperatus, work together: see coöperate.] One who acts, labors, or strives in conjunction with another or others for the promotion of a common end; specifically, a member of a coöperative society.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who labors jointly with others to promote the same end.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who cooperates; an associate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an associate in an activity or endeavor or sphere of common interest

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

co- +‎ operator

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cooperator.

Examples

  • One of the main Arab American organizations in the country said that the word cooperator (ph) is a very negative connotation of the Arabic language, that it suggests something more akin to collaborator, someone whose siphoned out, and this is likely to hinder cooperation among Arab Americans in the program.

    CNN Transcript Nov 30, 2001 2001

  • I selected green to be a cooperator that had previously been a defector, and yellow vice versa.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

  • Corina calls this effect “divine Tit for Tat”—if you are cooperator, you find yourself surrounded with cooperators and vice versa.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

  • A cooperator pays a cost for another individual to receive a benefit.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

  • A molecule can be the right shape or chemical makeup to speed up a useful chemical reaction (a “cooperator”) or could be the right constitution to disrupt it or divert cellular resources (a “defector”) because it snips other crucial participants into pieces.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

  • Mr. Slaine, after he was approached by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July 2007, became a key cooperator in gathering evidence for the government in a much broader insider-trading probe.

    No Jail Time for Cooperating Trader Chad Bray 2012

  • Fish and Wildlife Service agreed not to oppose the highway -- in fact, to be a "willing cooperator" with the Indiana Department of Transportation.

    Carol Polsgrove: A Big Road Through a Little Refuge: I-69 Threatens Endangered Species Carol Polsgrove 2010

  • We have someone offering help at a cost to himself—life and limb in the case of Autrey—who is a cooperator.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

  • Fish and Wildlife Service agreed not to oppose the highway -- in fact, to be a "willing cooperator" with the Indiana Department of Transportation.

    Carol Polsgrove: A Big Road Through a Little Refuge: I-69 Threatens Endangered Species Carol Polsgrove 2010

  • There was also the cooperator who when confronted with a defector responded with punishment.

    SuperCooperators Martin A. Nowak 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.