Word.ws English Dictionary

deactivate

/ˌdiːˈæktɪveɪt/

deactivate verb: to make something inactive or no longer effective.

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
  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

deactivate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malay and Indonesian

deactivate in Hindi

to make something inactive or no longer effective
निष्क्रिय करना niṣkriya karnā

deactivate in Tamil

முடக்கு

deactivate in Malay

to make something inactive or no longer effective
menyahaktifkan

deactivate in Indonesian

to make something inactive or no longer effective
menonaktifkan

Examples of deactivate in a sentence

  • The technician deactivated the alarm system before repairs began.
  • You should deactivate your old account to protect your privacy.

All 16 example sentences with deactivate

Forms of deactivate

third-person singular presentdeactivates
present participledeactivating
past participledeactivated
pastdeactivated
alternative formde-activate
alternative formdeäctivate

Past tense of deactivate: deactivated

Origin of deactivate

From de- + activate.

Words formed from deactivate

Questions about deactivate

What does deactivate mean?
Deactivate means to make something inactive or no longer effective.
What is deactivate in Hindi?
Deactivate in Hindi is निष्क्रिय करना (niṣkriya karnā). See Deactivate meaning in Hindi.
How do you use deactivate in a sentence?
The technician deactivated the alarm system before repairs began.
What part of speech is deactivate?
Deactivate is a verb.
How do you pronounce deactivate?
Deactivate is pronounced /ˌdiːˈæktɪveɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of deactivate?
The past tense of deactivate is deactivated.

Words near deactivate in the dictionary

  1. deacquisition
  2. deacquisitioned
  3. deacquisitioning
  4. deacquisitions
  5. deactivatable
  6. deactivate
  7. deactivated
  8. deactivates
  9. deactivating
  10. deactivation
  11. deactivation energies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deactivate (page history and authors); deactivate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-deactivate.wav.

Cite this entry: “deactivate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deactivate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.