Synonyms

inactivate

American

[in-ak-tuh-veyt] / ɪnˈæk təˌveɪt /

verb (used with object)

inactivated, inactivating

to make inactive.

The bomb was inactivated.
Immunology. to stop the activity of (certain biological substances).

inactivate British

/ ɪnˈæktɪˌveɪt /

verb

(tr) to render inactive

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

inactivation noun

Etymology

Origin of inactivate

First recorded in 1905–10; inactive + -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Use of gene therapies becomes more challenging as patients age and grow, because treating them often requires higher doses of the inactivated viruses used to deliver the replacement genes.

From Barron's

Another option is to heat milk to sub-pasteurization temperatures, which could inactivate the virus while maintaining the raw milk cheese characteristics valued by artisanal producers.

From Science Daily

With such vaccines, called whole-virus vaccines, a person’s immune system is presented with the whole virus, often in weakened or inactivated form.

From Salon

However, Prof Pollard says the mRNA vaccines performed better than the inactivated ones when tackling Covid.

From BBC

While some vaccines use an inactivated virus to trigger an immune response, mRNA vaccines work by teaching cells how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023