The DICT Development Group

  Activate \Ac"ti*vate\, v. t.
     To make active. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

  activate
      v 1: put in motion or move to act; "trigger a reaction";
           "actuate the circuits" [syn: trip, actuate, trigger,
           activate, set off, spark off, spark, trigger off,
           touch off]
      2: make active or more active; "activate an old file" [ant:
         deactivate, inactivate]
      3: make more adsorptive; "activate a metal"
      4: aerate (sewage) so as to favor the growth of organisms that
         decompose organic matter [syn: activate, aerate]
      5: make (substances) radioactive

  42 Moby Thesaurus words for "activate":
     accelerate, actuate, animate, arouse, atomize, awaken, bombard,
     charge, cleave, contaminate, cross-bombard, energize, fission,
     galvanize, get going, impel, infect, initiate, irradiate, mobilize,
     motivate, move, nucleize, poison, prompt, radiumize, rally,
     reactivate, recharge, remilitarize, rouse, set going,
     set in motion, smash the atom, start, stimulate, stir, switch on,
     trigger, turn on, wake, waken