verb (used with object),ac·ti·vat·ed,ac·ti·vat·ing.
to make active; cause to function or act.
Physics.
to render more reactive; excite: to activate a molecule.
to induce radioactivity.
to aerate (sewage) in order to accelerate decomposition of impure organic matter by microorganisms.
Chemistry.
to make (carbon, a catalyst, molecules, etc.) more active.
to hasten (reactions) by various means, as heating.
to place (a military unit or station) on an active status in an assigned capacity.
Origin of activate
First recorded in 1620–30; active + -ate1
SYNONYMS FOR activate
1 actuate, start, turn on, set going.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR activate ON THESAURUS.COM
ANTONYMS FOR activate
1 stop, halt, check.
SEE ANTONYMS FOR activate ON THESAURUS.COM
OTHER WORDS FROM activate
ac·ti·va·tion,nounnon·ac·ti·va·tion,nouno·ver·ac·ti·vate,verb (used with object),o·ver·ac·ti·vat·ed,o·ver·ac·ti·vat·ing.su·per·ac·ti·vate,verb (used with object),su·per·ac·ti·vat·ed,su·per·ac·ti·vat·ing.
According to Heather Nenov, an ophthalmologist from Stein Optometric Center, light entering the eye at a consistent brightness activates photoreceptors at the back of the eye.
What You Need to Know About Bike Lights|Aaron Rickel|August 26, 2020|Outside Online
Depending on trim level, there are massaging seats, power-adjustable pedals, motion-activated liftgate and captain’s chairs instead of a bench seat in the second row.
Vehicles to ride out a pandemic|Joe Phillips|August 22, 2020|Washington Blade
In real time, they looked at how neurons in the hippocampus activated in response to fear, and found that they tend to transmit the information to the amygdala—the emotion center—more than average.
Towards ‘Eternal Sunshine’? New Links Found Between Memory and Emotion|Shelly Fan|July 28, 2020|Singularity Hub
By better understanding the blood messengers involved, we could artificially activate this pathway and potentially protect the mental essence of what makes you you—even as your brain falters with age or disease.
Couch Potato No More: How the Benefits of Exercise Transfer to the Brain|Shelly Fan|July 14, 2020|Singularity Hub
In mice with light-sensitive neurons, the team activated multiple glomeruli with a specific pattern, which generated a hallucinatory sense of a particular scent—even if it wasn’t there and didn’t exist in nature.
A Highway to Smell: How Scientists Used Light to Incept Smell in Mice|Shelly Fan|July 1, 2020|Singularity Hub
I read a study not long ago that chewing actually does activate your brain.
Elizabeth Gilbert: How I Write|Noah Charney|October 2, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The manager responded by directing the first teller to call the police and activate the alarm.
New Usual Suspects in U.S. Bank Heists: Women|Michael Daly|May 14, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Perry will home in on the darkest corners of the Tea Party mind and work relentlessly to activate the demons that lurk there.
Perry: King of the Know-Nothings|Michael Tomasky|August 19, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Made from a Chinese root, TA-65 helps to activate telomerase, which rebuilds the strands.
The New Science of Reverse Aging|Danielle Friedman|November 7, 2010|DAILY BEAST
We now know that both of the so-called printer bombs employed circuit boards from cellphones to activate the detonators.
Al Qaeda's Doomsday Plan|Clive Irving|November 2, 2010|DAILY BEAST
We could press the button to activate the exercise mechanisms in our bunks.
Perfect Control|Richard Stockham
He had not the slightest idea of how to activate the machines, let alone broadcast in the proper code.
Storm Over Warlock|Andre Norton
This warmth was sufficient to activate most of the five-lined skinks, and a few reptiles of other kinds.
Life History and Ecology of the Five-lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus|Henry S. Fitch
I shall now activate the mechanism—by placing the cube on the platform—at exactly three o'clock.
Two Timer|Fredric Brown
We contend with it so as to remove it and, at the same time, activate the spiritual nature.
An Interpretation of Friends Worship|N. Jean Toomer
British Dictionary definitions for activate
activate
/ (ˈæktɪˌveɪt) /
verb(tr)
to make active or capable of action
physicsto make radioactive
chem
to increase the rate of (a reaction)
to treat (a substance, such as carbon or alumina) so as to increase powers of adsorption
physiolto prepare by arousal (the body or one of its organs (e.g. the brain)) for action
to purify (sewage) by aeration
USmilitaryto create, mobilize, or organize (a unit)