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Glite Dictionary
🔕 To turn off 🪖 To remove from service
to deactivate

to deactivate

21 4.3
To take a person or unit out of active service
  • verb
  • /diˈæktɪveɪt/
  • Formal
translation icon : dar de baja
  • My account is deactivated, but of course, I could jump in at any time.

Examples

  • In 2002, the Domestic Intelligence Agency deactivated several informers.

    CompleX (2021)

  • If that's the case, we need to implement a system to immediately deactivate an agent's code...

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I could have put the app back on my phone, but I did the third option I got, I deactivated my account.

  • I deactivated your explosives while you two were busy.

    Soul Hunters (2019)

  • National support said our account had been deactivated, and that I'd need to speak to a local support desk.

    Blog text (19)

  • All Romney campaign credit cards were deactivated at 9 PM.

    Blog text (15)

  • Enter the cage, defeat Sledgesaw in under 90 seconds, deactivate the bomb, free the civilians.

    All Superheroes Must Die (2011)

  • The protective detail for Mr. Cain was deactivated following the candidate's withdrawal from the campaign in early December 2011.

    Blog text (13)

  • For example, in March 2014, a single mother living in Las Vegas could not take her ten-year-old asthmatic daughter, who had a 103.5-degree fever, to the emergency room because a subprime auto lender remotely deactivated her car after she fell only three days behind on her monthly car payment.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The technician had to deactivate the security system before entering the building.

Synonyms

to discharge
vsto deactivate
  • Formal
100 4.4

Officially release someone from a duty, job, or responsibility

is specific to removing from active service, especially in military contexts
to decommission
vsto deactivate
  • Formal
22 6.5

To officially take a ship, factory, or machine out of use

applies more widely to removing people or things from active service
to demobilize
vsto deactivate
  • Specialized
4 7.5

To release soldiers from military service and return them to civilian life

covers removal from active service not only postwar return to civilians
to muster out
vsto deactivate
  • Jargon
1 7.2

Officially let a member of the military leave after their service ends

is about removing from active service for many reasons, not only term end
to inactivate
vsto deactivate
  • Formal
1 7.2

To officially take a person or unit out of military service

is removing from active service across military or other official contexts
to demob
vsto deactivate
  • Archaic
9.1

To release someone from the military after their service

is the broader term for ending active service beyond regional usage
to unmobilize
vsto deactivate
  • Specialized
8.1

To send soldiers, teams, and equipment home and stop military or emergency activity

focuses on stopping mobilization rather than general removal from active service

Antonyms

to activate
715 3.6

To make a machine, system, or account start working

Phrasal Verbs

to deactivate alarm
1 3.2

To turn an alarm off so it does not sound

How Active

to activate
715 3.6
to decommission
  • Formal
22 6.5
to deactivate
  • Formal
21 4.3
to suspend
141 3.9
to stand down
123 5.1

Surface Forms

deactivate infinitive
deactivated past
deactivated past participle
deactivating present participle
deactivates third person singular

Morphology

deactivate = activate (semi-transparent) = de + act + ive + ate

This sense is directly understandable as 'make no longer active' from the verb 'activate'.

Etymology

Deactivate is made from the part de- ('remove') and active ('on duty' or 'working'), so it literally means to take away the 'active' status. So, in the military sense, to deactivate a unit is to take it off active service.