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Glite Dictionary
🔛 To start working 🧪 To increase power ☢️ To make radioactive 💧 To treat sewage
to activate

to activate

6 7.5
To make a material radioactive using radiation
  • verb
  • /ˈæktɪˌveɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : irradiar
  • Researchers used radiation to activate the isotopes needed for their experiments.

Examples

  • In laboratories, scientists may activate substances through exposure to high-energy radiation.

  • The nuclear reactor was designed to activate certain materials and make them usable for energy generation.

  • Activate all radiation surveillance consoles 1 through 20.

    Flight of the Navigator (1986)

  • One might predict that the dopaminergic pathway would be activated after that food reward was received.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Activated charcoal packs were placed in the lake at seven locations within the swimming beach area.

    Academic text (2002)

  • A 5-minute incubation period at room temperature allowed the inactive form proPO to get activated to PO.

    Academic text (2018)

  • The cytoplasm of activated eggs induces transplanted nuclei to cease RNA synthesis and synthesize DNA.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

to irradiate
vsto activate
  • Specialized
13 8.0

To expose something to radiation to kill germs or treat disease

aims to make the material radioactive as a result of exposure

Antonyms

to deactivate
63 3.9

To make a device, system, or account stop working

How Radioactive

to activate
  • Specialized
6 7.5
to expose
479 3.2

Surface Forms

activate infinitive
activated past
activated past participle
activating present participle
activates third person singular

Morphology

activate = active (opaque) = active + ate

This technical sense 'to make radioactive' is specialized and not inferable from the general meaning of 'active'.

Etymology

Activate comes from the root act, meaning 'do' or 'be active', the same root you see in action. In science, to activate a material is to give it energy so it becomes active (radioactive) and begins to 'act' by emitting radiation.