activate

Etymology

It was formed from English active + -ate in English.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Merriam-Webster thinks it was probably modelled on activer, a derivative of actif (“active”);^[7] the OED compares that French verb, used from the 15th century to mean "to encourage or speed up an action", and Medieval Latin activare of the 13th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make active or more active, to set something in motion: 1624, in Richard Montagu's Immediate Address.^[2][7] Etymonline gives the 1620s, with the sense "make active, intensify".^[4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "to make active" but thought it was used only by the author he quoted, in a passage on cold being intensified by nitre or salt.^[8] The word was revived in science: in chemistry, from 1893, it meant to make a substance more reactive, and Etymonline dates the sense "put into action" from 1902, in chemistry.^[2][4] Later senses include to become active (1910), to make radioactive (1924), to set a device working (1941) and, in American military use, to call a unit or reservist into active service (1940).^[2] The Shorter Oxford notes activated carbon or charcoal, treated to increase its power of adsorption, and activated sludge in sewage treatment.^[3]

Timeline

• 1624 – to make active.^[2][7]
• 1893 – (chemistry) to make more reactive.^[2]
• 1910 – intransitive, to become active.^[2]
• 1924 – (physics) to make radioactive.^[2]
• 1940 – (military) to call into active service.^[2]
• 1941 – to set a device working.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make something active or start it working: Opening the door will activate the alarm.
2. (chemistry) To make a substance more reactive, or to treat it so as to increase its power of adsorption.
3. (physics) To make radioactive.
4. (military) To put a unit on active duty.

Word family

• activation
• activator
• unactivated
• overactivate
• superactivate
• transactivate
• reactivate

Related words

• active
• act
• action
• actuate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.