deactivate

English

Alternative forms

• de-activate
• deäctivate

Etymology

From de- +‎ activate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdiːˈæktɪveɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

deactivate (third-person singular simple present deactivates, present participle deactivating, simple past and past participle deactivated)

1. (ergative) to make something inactive or no longer effective

   deactivate an account

   deactivate a device

   The technician deactivated the alarm system before repairs began.

   You should deactivate your old account to protect your privacy.

2. to prevent the action of a biochemical agent (such as an enzyme)

   chemically deactivate

   The chemical agent was deactivated by exposure to heat.

3. to remove a person or piece of hardware from active military service
4. (Internet, euphemistic, neologism) to commit suicide

Derived terms

• deactivatable
• deactivator

Translations

to make something inactive or no longer effective

Azerbaijani: deaktivləşdirmək Catalan: desactivar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 使無效 / 使无效 (shǐ wúxiào) Esperanto: malaktivigi, senaktivigi Finnish: deaktivoida, tehdä toimintakyvyttömäksi French: désactiver (fr) German: deaktivieren (de) Greek: απενεργοποιώ (el) (apenergopoió) Hindi: निष्क्रिय करना (niṣkriya karnā) Hungarian: hatástalanít (hu), inaktivál (hu), deaktivál (hu) Indonesian: menonaktifkan (id) Italian: disattivare (it) Kazakh: жансыздану (jansyzdanu) Malay: menyahaktifkan Maori: whakakaurapa, taupāhohe (refers to computing) Polish: dezaktywować impf, zdezaktywować pf Portuguese: desactivar Russian: деактиви́ровать (ru) impf or pf (deaktivírovatʹ); отключа́ть (ru) impf (otključátʹ), отключи́ть (ru) pf (otključítʹ), дезактиви́ровать (ru) impf or pf (dezaktivírovatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: deaktivirati Spanish: desactivar (es) Welsh: dadweithredoli

to prevent the action of a biochemical agent

Catalan: desactivar (ca) Finnish: deaktivoida German: unterbinden (de) Russian: дезактиви́ровать (ru) impf or pf (dezaktivírovatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: deaktivirati

to remove a person or piece of hardware from active military service

Russian: демобилизова́ть (ru) impf or pf (demobilizovátʹ)

See also

• activate
• inactivate