activate
to make active; cause to function or act.
Physics.
to render more reactive; excite: to activate a molecule.
to induce radioactivity.
to aerate (sewage) in order to accelerate decomposition of impure organic matter by microorganisms.
Chemistry.
to make (carbon, a catalyst, molecules, etc.) more active.
to hasten (reactions) by various means, as heating.
to place (a military unit or station) on an active status in an assigned capacity.
to become active or functional.
Origin of activate
1Other words for activate
1 | actuate, start, turn on, set going |
Opposites for activate
Other words from activate
- ac·ti·va·tion [ak-tuh-vey-shuhn], /ˌæk təˈveɪ ʃən/, noun
- non·ac·ti·va·tion, noun
- o·ver·ac·ti·vate, verb (used with object), o·ver·ac·ti·vat·ed, o·ver·ac·ti·vat·ing.
- su·per·ac·ti·vate, verb (used with object), su·per·ac·ti·vat·ed, su·per·ac·ti·vat·ing.
- un·ac·ti·vat·ed, adjective
Words that may be confused with activate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use activate in a sentence
Nothing will work sensibly, or fairly, until human responsibility is restored as the activating force for all public choices.
Activating iPhones promised a lucrative, steady revenue stream for Synchronoss.
At that point an executor will be in charge of activating the service.
Both parties will try to use the vote as a way of activating the base as they head into the fall.
A grand still life, with a woman activating it, the painting makes light and colors the dominant players.
Apparently it was too heavy for the weak force activating the cylinders.
Sense from Thought Divide | Mark Irvin CliftonHe built at least a dozen of them on Niflheim, to use in activating volcanoes and bringing ore-bearing lava to the surface.
Uller Uprising | Henry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. CarrHe manipulated the dials and had just got an outside view as the pilot began activating the tubes.
Man of Many Minds | E. Everett EvansActivating the bird's brain he sent out a call to others of its kind that it had found food in abundance.
Man of Many Minds | E. Everett EvansWhen it passes through the first screen it breaks the current activating a chronograph, counting chronograph.
Warren Commission (5 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
British Dictionary definitions for activate
/ (ˈæktɪˌveɪt) /
to make active or capable of action
physics to make radioactive
chem
to increase the rate of (a reaction)
to treat (a substance, such as carbon or alumina) so as to increase powers of adsorption
physiol to prepare by arousal (the body or one of its organs (e.g. the brain)) for action
to purify (sewage) by aeration
US military to create, mobilize, or organize (a unit)
Derived forms of activate
- activation, noun
- activator, noun
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
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