Meanings
present singular third person inactivates · participle present inactivating · participle past inactivated · past inactivated
- transitiveTo make inactive.
'Computer inactivated,' Crawford reported. 'I get nothing at all.'
1974, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye
Synonyms & antonyms
verbrelease from military service or remove from the active list of military service
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Italic*n̥-
- Latinin-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂éǵeti
- Proto-Italic*agō
- Latinagō
- Ancient Greekἐνεργητικός (energētikós)
- Latināctīvus
- Latinināctīvu
- Frenchinactif
- Englishinactive
- Englishinactivate
From inactive + -ate (verb-forming suffix) or in- + activate.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 使不活動 /使不活动
- 使不活動 /使不活动 (shǐ bùhuódòng)to put out of action
Japanese 不活発にする
- 不活発にする (fukappatsuni-suru)to put out of action
Māori whakakaurapa
- whakakaurapato put out of action
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
inactivate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inactivate
“inactivate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inactivate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inactivate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inactivate.
Source: inactivate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.