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Glite Dictionary
to overactivate

to overactivate

1 6.6
Cause something to become too active
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈæktɪveɪt/
: sobreactivar
  • Excessive training can overactivate your muscles, causing fatigue and injury.

Examples

  • Too much caffeine can overactivate your nervous system, making you feel anxious.

  • When apoptosis is overactivated (as in stroke and such neurodegenerative conditions as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases), an excessive number of brain neurons die.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Overactivated UPR may lead to certain neurodegenerative diseases, and inhibiting UPR is a possible therapy for these diseases (158).

    Academic text (2018)

  • If you overactivate the brain's reward centers, it can lead to addiction.

Synonyms

to overstimulate
vsto overactivate
  • Specialized
4 6.3

Give someone too much noise, light or activity so they become stressed

causes excessive activation without specifically implying harm
to overexcite
vsto overactivate
1 3.5

To make people or animals too excited

causes abnormal activation more broadly, not only excitement
to push into overdrive
vsto overactivate
1 6.1

To work much harder and faster to get something done

causes excessive activity as an abnormal state rather than planned increase

Antonyms

to deactivate
76 3.9

To make a device, system, or account stop working

How Active

to overstimulate
  • Specialized
4 6.3
to overactivate
1 6.6
to stimulate
185 3.7
to activate
418 3.6

Surface Forms

overactivate infinitive
overactivated past
overactivated past participle
overactivating present participle
overactivates third person singular

Morphology

overactivate = activate (transparent) = over + activate

The prefix 'over-' adds the standard meaning 'excessively' to the verb 'activate', so the combined meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

The word overactivate is built from over- meaning 'too much', as in overdo, and activate meaning 'make active', like active or action. So to overactivate something is to make it 'too active' or active in a way that can cause problems.