What does activate mean?

Definitions for activate
ˈæk təˌveɪtac·ti·vate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word activate.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. trip, actuate, trigger, activate, set off, spark off, spark, trigger off, touch offverb

    put in motion or move to act

    "trigger a reaction"; "actuate the circuits"

  2. activateverb

    make active or more active

    "activate an old file"

  3. activateverb

    make more adsorptive

    "activate a metal"

  4. activate, aerateverb

    aerate (sewage) so as to favor the growth of organisms that decompose organic matter

  5. activateverb

    make (substances) radioactive

Wiktionary

  1. activateverb

    To put into action, to put to work.

  2. activateverb

    To turn on.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To Activateverb

    To make active. This word is perhaps used only by the author alleged.

    Etymology: from active.

    As snow and ice, especially being holpen, and their cold activated by nitre or salt, will turn water into ice, and that in a few hours; so it may be, it will turn wood or stiff clay into stone, in longer time. Francis Bacon, Nat. History, №. 83.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Activateverb

    to make active

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Activate

    ak′ti-vāt, v.t. (Bacon) to make active:—pr.p. ac′tivāting; pa.p. ac′tivāted.

Editors Contribution

  1. activateverb

    American college test taking action by doing something to fulfill the function or serve the purpose of tending to be active and having the nature of automated test equipment denoting a product or action. 1.) make something active or operative. Convert into a reactive form.

    I had to become who I am to be able to activate my power.

    Etymology: Enlightened


    Submitted by Tehorah_Elyon on April 25, 2024  


  2. activate

    To make active.

    They did activate the new software using a password.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 8, 2020  

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'activate' in Verbs Frequency: #902

How to pronounce activate?

How to say activate in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of activate in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of activate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of activate in a Sentence

  1. Nancy Davis:

    I think this drug is going to completely change the landscape of MS, it’s the first drug that suppresses your B cells, and they feel the B cells activate the T cells.

  2. Allah Akbar:

    What ISIS does is I think it gives direction, organization, and because of its command of the social media can actually activate people in a way that was more random before, but, the general issue is radical Islam. And unless we have a president who immediately says this is a lone gunman, how does he know?

  3. Sven Jordt:

    Our nose, mouth and throat contain nerve endings that sense painful and irritating chemicals in the inhaled air. For example, the burning, stinging feeling elicited by smoke inhalation is mediated by these nerve endings. They also trigger sneezing and cough, basically to defend the lungs from inhaling toxic chemicals, the new chemicals we identified in e-cigarettes activate these nerve endings more strongly. Especially when activated over a longer period, as in smokers, and potentially in e-cigarette users, these mechanisms have been shown to cause inflammation and asthma and contribute to emphysema.

  4. Monica Perez:

    They're different in terms of the way to activate the central nervous system, but the overall outcome is similar.

  5. Luis Encinas:

    They don't wait now for the first Western person to get ill and say' oh, my God, we need to activate the emergency.' This is a big change.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

activate#10000#10049#100000

Translations for activate

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"activate." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/activate>.

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