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activate Definition

ac·ti·vate (ak′tə vāt′)

transitive verb -·vat′ed, -·vat′·ing

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

activate Related Forms
ac′·ti·va′·tion noun
activate Synonyms

activate

v.

stimulate, initiate, arouse, actuate; see animate 1, begin 1.

activate Usage Examples

Object

  • charcoal: The residual oil content present in such mixtures is trapped by means of activated charcoal.
  • macrophage: When biopsied, these lesions show inflammatory responses with invading T-cells and activated macrophages.
  • kinase: The activated tyrosine kinase tells the cancer cells to grow and divide, so they keep making new cells.
  • receptor: Agonist: A molecule that activates a cell receptor.
  • sludge: Point out that two major methods of treatment are used; activated sludge being more common than biological filter beds.
  • carbon: You can smell when the activated carbon is no longer working.

Preposition: on

  • identity: Thus Central agent is activated on identity 1, and has identities 2 and 3 in its repertoire.

Subject

  • button: Reacts to change in car's motion Can also be activated by push button Height - 15cm.
  • heat: The melting is activated by resistive heat generated in a conductive slag.
  • signal: LCD monitors: Refresh rates The pixels in a standard color LCD screen are activated directly by signals from the video card.

Modifying Another Word

  • thermally: This is the thermally activated process that allows condensation or freezing to take place.
  • remotely: A soft comforting nightlight that can be remotely activated.
  • selectively: The research work provided direct confirmation of the extent to which the hypnotist can selectively activate given areas of the brain.
  • manually: It has a power switch on/off button that manually activates the laser light.
  • electrically: These MEMs are normally electrically activated, but by using this polymer brush technology they would be actuated by chemical signals instead.
  • unintentionally: During this manual operation the dosage program for nitric acid was unintentionally activated for a second time.

Used with why or when

  • whenever: Real-time launch scanning activates whenever applications on the device are launched and prevents viruses from activating on the device.
  • when: The M1 and M2 activate when they hit the water.

Preposition: by

  • button: Reacts to change in car's motion Can also be activated by push button Height - 15cm.
  • heat: The melting is activated by resistive heat generated in a conductive slag.