INACTIVATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inactivate mean? 

• INACTIVATE (verb)
  The verb INACTIVATE has 2 senses:

1. release from military service or remove from the active list of military service

2. make inactive

  Familiarity information: INACTIVATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INACTIVATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they inactivate    ... he / she / it inactivates   
Past simple: inactivated   
Past participle: inactivated   
-ing form: inactivating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Release from military service or remove from the active list of military service

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

demobilise; demobilize; inactivate

Hypernyms (to "inactivate" is one way to...):

discharge; muster out (release from military service)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

inactivation (breaking up a military unit (by transfers or discharges))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make inactive

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

deactivate; inactivate

Context example:

they deactivated the file

Hypernyms (to "inactivate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inactivate"):

paralyse; paralyze (make powerless and unable to function)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Antonym:

activate (make active or more active)

Derivation:

inactivation (the process of rendering inactive)

 Context examples 

Oxacillin binds to and inactivates penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) located on the inner membrane of the bacterial cell wall.

(Oxacillin Sodium Anhydrous, NCI Thesaurus)

Penicillin G binds to and inactivates penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), enzymes located on the inner membrane of the bacterial cell wall, resulting in the weakening of the bacterial cell wall and cell lysis.

(Benethamine Penicillin, NCI Thesaurus)

RAS is activated by a guanine nucleotide-exchange factor and inactivated by a GTPase-activating protein.

(Oncogene N-RAS, NCI Thesaurus)

Azidocillin binds to and inactivates penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) located on the inner membrane of the bacterial cell wall.

(Azidocillin, NCI Thesaurus)

This is in contrast to those vaccines produced by killing the pathogen (inactivated vaccine).

(Attenuated Live Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

This is in contrast to those vaccines produced by "killing" the pathogen (inactivated vaccine).

(Attenuated Bacteria Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

Inactivating mutation of p53 can lead to more rapid proliferation and reduced apoptosis.

(Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

Mezlocillin binds to and inactivates penicillin-binding proteins (PBP) located on the inner membrane of the bacterial cell wall.

(Mezlocillin, NCI Thesaurus)

TNP-470 binds to and irreversibly inactivates methionine aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP2), resulting in endothelial cell cycle arrest late in the G1 phase and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis.

(O-Chloroacetylcarbamoylfumagillol, NCI Thesaurus)

NF-kB is inhibited by IkB proteins (NFKBIA or NFKBIB), which inactivate NF-kB by trapping it in the cytoplasm.

(NF-kB, NCI Thesaurus)