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
-
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
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are deactivatingprogressive
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is deactivatingprogressive
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have been deactivatingperfect progressive
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has been deactivatingperfect progressive
Past
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deactivatedsimple
-
had deactivatedperfect
-
was deactivatingprogressive
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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:
In mid-March, the University of Florida moved to deactivate the group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
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
"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
Earlier work from his group showed that when resveratrol and copper are combined, they generate oxygen radicals that deactivate or destroy cfChPs.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 10, 2025
“You’re a good friend, Festus. No one can truly deactivate you. You’re more than a machine. Khione doesn’t understand that.”
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Meta deactivates accounts that it suspects are underage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The researchers used optogenetics, a technique that activates or deactivates genes using light.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 9, 2026
Similar to the way that HR deactivates an employee's logins when they leave, there needs to be a process for shutting down AI agents that have finished their work, he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2025
It deactivates accounts that could pose a risk to its hosts.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 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
Australia implemented an outright ban six months ago which prevents under-16s from creating new social media accounts - and deactivated existing ones - on ten major social media platforms including TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
A gig drivers organization filed a lawsuit against Uber, alleging the company violated their rights by not providing a sufficient appeals process for deactivated accounts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Although nearly five million accounts have been deactivated, tech-savvy teens have found ways around the age requirements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
In contrast, mice in which HIF1 was deactivated in tendon tissue did not develop tendon disease, even when their tendons were overloaded.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2026
I’d almost asked to be deactivated right then and there.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
She made her Instagram comeback after seemingly deactivating her personal account earlier this month, when allegations against her husband became public.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
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 already started deactivating accounts based on information such as the age given when they were created.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 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
“In fact, I’m surprised they’ve kept it going so long. The Capitol will adjust by deactivating specific pods and then manually triggering them when their targets come in range.”
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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.
