deactivate

[ dee-ak-tuh-veyt ]

verb (used with object)

, de·ac·ti·vat·ed, de·ac·ti·vat·ing.

1. to cause to be inactive; remove the effectiveness of.
2. to demobilize or disband (a military unit).
3. to render (a bomb, shell, or the like) inoperative, especially by disconnecting, removing, or otherwise interfering with the action of the fuze.
4. Chemistry. to render (a chemical, enzyme, catalyst, etc.) inactive.

verb (used without object)

, de·ac·ti·vat·ed, de·ac·ti·vat·ing.

1. Physical Chemistry. to lose radioactivity.

deactivate

/ diːˈæktɪˌveɪt /

verb

1. tr to make (a bomb, etc) harmless or inoperative
2. intr to become less radioactive
3. tr to end the active status of (a military unit)
4. chem to return or cause to return from an activated state to a normal or ground state

Derived Forms

• deˈactiˌvator, noun
• deˌactiˈvation, noun

Other Words From

• de·acti·vation noun
• de·acti·vator noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deactivate¹

First recorded in 1900–05; de- + activate

Example Sentences

A shot developed in China using deactivated covid-19 germs protected only half the people who got it, although it did stop severe disease.

From MIT Technology Review

This sort of sharing is something that might be enabled without your knowledge, or that you may have switched on at one point but now want to deactivate.

From Popular-Science

I was in school, and I had deactivated my social media during the semester.

From Vox

His return was delayed by a team disciplinary issue that caused him to be deactivated for a game and fined, and a hamstring injury.

From Washington Post

They had AT&T deactivate the connection, so that none of the data on the devices could go to the cloud.

From Voice of San Diego

This ship is crowded with a complete set of automatic defenses that I cant deactivate.

From Project Gutenberg

It will not be possible to deactivate it before 12.45 hours.

From Project Gutenberg

Conn used the manual control to set it down and deactivate it, then got out and went to examine it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• disband
• shut off