Activated

How to spell activated

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce activated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does activated mean?

1. verbMade something operative, working, or set in motion; switched on or triggered.
2. adjectiveTreated to increase chemical reactivity or absorbing power, as with charcoal or carbon.

Activated in a sentence

• verb

  The motion sensor activated the floodlights as the car pulled in.

• adjective

  The water filter uses activated charcoal to remove impurities.

• verb

  She activated the new bank card by calling the number on the back.

• adjective

  The pharmacist recommended activated carbon tablets for the upset stomach.

Where does activated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb agere, which literally meant 'to do, to drive, or to set in motion'; its past participle stem actus gave Latin and later European languages a whole family of action words. From actus came the medieval Latin activus, meaning 'practical' or 'full of doing', which English picked up through Old French as 'active' in the late 1300s. The verb 'activate', meaning to make something active or to set it working, was assembled later, in the seventeenth century, by adding the verb-forming ending -ate to that 'active' base. 'Activated' is simply its past-tense and past-participle form, with the regular -ed ending attached. The same agere root quietly powers a remarkable spread of everyday words, including 'agent', 'agile', 'agenda', and 'action', so the spelling holds together logically once you see the act- core inside it.

How the word is built

• act (from Latin agere: to do, drive)
• -ive (tending to)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ed (past tense/participle)