Operative Masonry

US/ˈɑpərətɪv ˈmeɪsənri/UK/ˈɒpərətɪv ˈmeɪsənri/

proper noun

Practical masonry, i.e. construction with stone and other materials, understood as a coherent and ancient system contrasted with Speculative Masonry or Freemasonry.

“Coordinate term: Speculative Masonry”

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. archaicFreemasonryPractical masonry, i.e. construction with stone and other materials, understood as a coherent and ancient system contrasted with Speculative Masonry or Freemasonry.

    Coordinate term: Speculative Masonry

    1 more example

    But you and I, my brother, are taught that Operative Masonry is but the outward form, the type, the model of speculative Masonry; and that King Solomon’s Temple, with all its particulars, was the antitype of the grand world-wide system which we call Freemasonry.

    1878 February 16, Rob Morris, “The Holy Land and the Temple”, in The Freemason’s Chronicle, volume 7, number 164, page 116
Cite this entry
APA

Operative Masonry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Operative%20Masonry

MLA

“Operative Masonry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Operative%20Masonry. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Operative Masonry,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Operative%20Masonry.

Source: Operative Masonry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.