deactivate
Americanverb (used with object)
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deactivates,
present (3rd person singular)
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deactivated,
past participle, past
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deactivating
present participle
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to cause to be inactive; remove the effectiveness of.
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to demobilize or disband (a military unit).
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to render (a bomb, shell, or the like) inoperative, especially by disconnecting, removing, or otherwise interfering with the action of the fuze.
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Chemistry. to render (a chemical, enzyme, catalyst, etc.) inactive.
verb (used without object)
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deactivates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deactivated,
past participle, past
-
deactivating
present participle
verb
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(tr) to make (a bomb, etc) harmless or inoperative
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(intr) to become less radioactive
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(tr) to end the active status of (a military unit)
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chem to return or cause to return from an activated state to a normal or ground state
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deactivatesimple
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deactivatessimple
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have deactivatedperfect
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has deactivatedperfect
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am deactivatingprogressive
-
are deactivatingprogressive
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is deactivatingprogressive
-
have been deactivatingperfect progressive
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has been deactivatingperfect progressive
Past
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deactivatedsimple
-
had deactivatedperfect
-
was deactivatingprogressive
-
were deactivatingprogressive
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had been deactivatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deactivate
Vocabulary lists containing deactivate
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.
See Examples For:
Nearly 50 cities nationwide have opted to deactivate their scanners or cancel contracts with Flock, mostly in recent months, according to the website DeFlock.me, which has set out to map locations of the company’s cameras.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026
In December, Australia became the first country to block access for under-16-year-olds, forcing social-media companies including Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance and YouTube to deactivate millions of teen social-media accounts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
The long polymer chains in single-use plastics are extremely stable, and contaminants in waste streams can quickly deactivate traditional catalysts.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2026
"The council will suspend its use, it will not deactivate its account, because there would be a risk if the council deactivated its account," Smyth told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2026
If Daito failed to deactivate the Beta Capsule and return to human form before his three minutes were up, his avatar would die.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Meta deactivates accounts that it suspects are underage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
A chemical reaction can convert two polluting greenhouse gases into valuable building blocks for cleaner fuels and feedstocks, but the high temperature required for the reaction also deactivates the catalyst.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2024
It deactivates accounts that could pose a risk to its hosts.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
Over the summer, an activist group began a movement to put street cones on their bonnets, which deactivates the cars.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2023
The activation of a shielding model also deactivates the protection structure of a person or at least some section of it.
From The Brain, A Decoded Enigma by Dorin Teodor Moisa
Some 50 cities and counties have canceled Flock contracts or deactivated cameras since early last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
When the gene was deactivated in older worker bees, the insects began caring for the queen again.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
Every deactivated driver is given a reason for termination and offered a review process for more information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Meutya Hafid, the country's communications and digital affairs minister, announced that accounts for under 16s on "high risk" platforms would be deactivated from 28 March.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
The counter on my display had only fifteen seconds remaining when I deactivated the Beta Capsule.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Tech companies said they would comply with the ban, and some began deactivating accounts before the law came into effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has started deactivating accounts based on information such as the age given when they were created.
From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025
Pretty Little Thing faced a backlash when it started deactivating accounts it said had high rates of return last year.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025
Indeed, deactivating sensory neurons that monitor the fly's head position altered how the insect moved when the scientists stimulated the motor neurons.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
Petey snapped his fingers, deactivating the gravity dampeners.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
