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deactivate

[dee-ak-tuh-veyt]
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verb (used with object), de·ac·ti·vat·ed, de·ac·ti·vat·ing.
  1. to cause to be inactive; remove the effectiveness of.
  2. to demobilize or disband (a military unit).
  3. to render (a bomb, shell, or the like) inoperative, especially by disconnecting, removing, or otherwise interfering with the action of the fuze.
  4. Chemistry. to render (a chemical, enzyme, catalyst, etc.) inactive.
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verb (used without object), de·ac·ti·vat·ed, de·ac·ti·vat·ing.
  1. Physical Chemistry. to lose radioactivity.
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Origin of deactivate

First recorded in 1900–05; de- + activate
Related formsde·ac·ti·va·tion, nounde·ac·ti·va·tor, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

disbanddemilitarize

Examples from the Web for deactivate

Historical Examples

  • It will not be possible to deactivate it before 12.45 hours.

    The Lost Kafoozalum

    Pauline Ashwell

  • Conn used the manual control to set it down and deactivate it, then got out and went to examine it.

    The Cosmic Computer

    Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for deactivate

deactivate

verb
  1. (tr) to make (a bomb, etc) harmless or inoperative
  2. (intr) to become less radioactive
  3. (tr) US to end the active status of (a military unit)
  4. chem to return or cause to return from an activated state to a normal or ground state
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Derived Formsdeactivation, noundeactivator, 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

Word Origin and History for deactivate

v.

1904, from de- + activate. Related: Deactivated; deactivating; deactivation.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper