To turn off or disable something so it no longer works or functions.
From prefix 'de-' (to reverse or remove) + 'activate' (from Latin 'activus,' meaning active or capable of action). A modern word created to describe the opposite of activating.
The word 'deactivate' became common in the 1960s with computers, but now it defines how we control everything from social media accounts to time bombs in action movies—language evolved with technology.
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