operative vs surgical procedure

operative

noun
  • A participant in an operation. 

  • An employee or other worker with some particular function or skill. 

  • A spy, secret agent, or detective. 

adj
  • Functional, in working order. 

  • Effectual or important. 

  • Having the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects. 

  • Producing the appropriate or designed effect; efficacious. 

  • Based upon, or consisting of, a surgical operation or operations. 

surgical procedure

noun
  • A procedure in which one or more incisions are made into the body in order to repair damage or remove diseased tissue; an operation. 

How often have the words operative and surgical procedure occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )