activate

The definition of activate means to start something.

(verb)

An example of activate is when the “play” button is pushed on the DVD player and it starts to play the disk.

See activate in Webster's New World College Dictionary

to make active; cause to engage in activity
to put (an inactive military unit) on an active status by assigning personnel, equipment, etc. to it
to make radioactive
to make capable of reacting or of accelerating a chemical reaction
to treat (sewage) with air so that aerobes will become active in it, thus purifying it

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See activate in American Heritage Dictionary 4

transitive verb ac·ti·vat·ed, ac·ti·vat·ing, ac·ti·vates

To set in motion; make active or more active.
To organize or create (a military unit, for example): activate the National Guard.
To treat (sewage) with aeration and bacteria to aid decomposition.
Chemistry To accelerate a reaction in, as by heat.
Physics To make (a substance) radioactive.
Biology To convert (certain biological compounds) into biologically active derivatives.

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