Other forms: cooperatives
Cooperative means willing to work together. A cooperative witness, cooperative approach, not very cooperative.
Of a person it means helpful and not obstructive, and it is what police and inspectors say when somebody did not make it difficult. As a noun, a cooperative is a business owned by its members — the Co-op in Britain is the best-known example, founded on the Rochdale principles of 1844. Note co-operative with a hyphen, still common in British writing.
1adjectivecooperativeWilling to work together.
“The witness was very cooperative and answered all the police's questions.”
2nounbusinessA business owned by its members.
“The farmers formed a cooperative to sell their milk at a better price.”
cooperative is a quality of working together.
Latin
operātīvus
Middle French
operatif
Middle English
operative
English
operative
English, today
cooperative
From co- + operative. operative comes from Middle English operative, operatyfe, from Middle French operatif (modern French opératif) or its etymon Latin operātīvus. by surface analysis, operate + -ive.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA