Adjacent Words

activate definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: put in motion or move to act; "trigger a reaction"; "actuate the circuits" [syn: trip, actuate, trigger, activate, set off, spark off, spark, trigger off, touch off]
2: make active or more active; "activate an old file" [ant: deactivate, inactivate]
3: make more adsorptive; "activate a metal"
4: aerate (sewage) so as to favor the growth of organisms that decompose organic matter [syn: activate, aerate]
5: make (substances) radioactive

Merriam Webster's

verb (-vated; -vating) Date: 1626 transitive verb to make active or more active: as a. (1) to make (as molecules) reactive or more reactive (2) to convert (as a provitamin) into a biologically active derivative b. to make (a substance) radioactive c. to treat (as carbon or alumina) so as to improve adsorptive properties d. (1) to set up or formally institute (as a military unit) with the necessary personnel and equipment (2) to put (an individual or unit) on active duty intransitive verb to become active • activation noun • activator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 make active; bring into action. 2 Chem. cause reaction in; excite (a substance, molecules, etc.). 3 Physics make radioactive. Phrases and idioms: activated carbon carbon, esp. charcoal, treated to increase its adsorptive power. activated sludge aerated sewage containing aerobic bacteria. Derivatives: activation n. activator n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Activate Ac"ti*vate, v. t. To make active. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(activates, activating, activated) If a device or process is activated, something causes it to start working. Video cameras with night vision can be activated by movement. ...a voice-activated computer. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed • activation A computer controls the activation of an air bag.

Moby Thesaurus

accelerate, actuate, animate, arouse, atomize, awaken, bombard, charge, cleave, contaminate, cross-bombard, energize, fission, galvanize, get going, impel, infect, initiate, irradiate, mobilize, motivate, move, nucleize, poison, prompt, radiumize, rally, reactivate, recharge, remilitarize, rouse, set going, set in motion, smash the atom, start, stimulate, stir, switch on, trigger, turn on, wake, waken