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Glite Dictionary
🛡️ To protect metal 😶 To make inactive 🔄 To make passive
to passivate

to passivate

8.8
Make a person or group less likely to act
  • verb
  • /ˈpæsɪˌveɪt/
translation icon : desactivar
  • Strict supervision tended to passivate the students, making them less likely to participate in class discussions.

Examples

  • The company's rigid policies seemed to passivate employee initiative and creativity.

  • Some leaders worry that too many rules can passivate a community's willingness to solve its own problems.

  • Don't passivate the urgency of this situation!

  • We need to passivate the system to prevent any errors.

  • Strict supervision tended to passivate the students, making them less likely to participate in class discussions.

  • The company's rigid policies seemed to passivate employee initiative and creativity.

  • Some leaders worry that too many rules can passivate a community's willingness to solve its own problems.

Synonyms

to deactivate
vsto passivate
63 3.9

To make a device, system, or account stop working

is about reducing activity or will in people or systems broadly
to nullify
vsto passivate
12 6.8

To make something lose its effect or value

less often removes value completely and more often reduces action or power
to emasculate
vsto passivate
10 8.8

To make something weaker or less effective

is broader, covering inactivity as well as simple weakening
to inactivate
vsto passivate
4 5.8

To make something stop working

focuses more on reducing initiative or effectiveness in people or actions
to deaden
vsto passivate
3 5.5

To make a feeling, sound, or pain less strong

narrows this to lowering activity or likelihood of taking action
to defang
vsto passivate
2 7.9

To make a threat or criticism less powerful

applies more generally to lowering activity or willingness to act
to stultify
vsto passivate
  • Formal
1 9.8

Make someone or something lose energy and stop working well

tends to reduce capacity generally rather than only dulling interest

Antonyms

to activate
715 3.6

To make a machine, system, or account start working

How Inactive

to paralyze
  • US
266 5.3
to disable
87 3.5
to passivate
8.8
to inhibit
11 6.3
to discourage
257 3.5
to deter
94 5.6

Surface Forms

passivate infinitive
passivated past
passivated past participle
passivating present participle
passivates third person singular

Morphology

passivate = passive (transparent) = passiv + ate

Direct denominal/depictive verb formation meaning 'make (someone or something) passive', which a learner can infer from the base adjective.

Etymology

Passivate comes from the same root as passive, Latin pass- meaning 'able to be acted on'. So to passivate a person or group is to make them quieter or less likely to act, which is why it means 'make inactive' in a figurative way.