actuate

UK/ˈæktʃu.eɪt/US/ˈækt͡ʃu.eɪt/

verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,937 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: actuated, actuating, actuates

To actuate is to set a mechanism working. Actuate the valve, actuated by a solenoid, actuate the brakes.

It is engineering language, and an actuator is the part that does it — the small motor or piston that turns a signal into movement. Used of people it means to motivate, as in actuated by greed, which is formal and slightly old-fashioned.

Definitions of actuate

1verbactuateTo set a mechanism working.C1
“Pressing the pedal actuates the brakes on all four wheels.”

actuate is a setting in motion.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin actuare comes from Latin actus, a doing, from agere, to do or drive.

Medieval Latin
āctuātus
English, today
actuate

Built from

āctuō · Latin — actuate, implement
agō · Latin — do, act

From Medieval Latin āctuātus. From Medieval Latin āctuātus, perfect passive participle of āctuō (“actuate, implement”), from Latin āctus, perfect passive participle of agō (“do, act”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

actuate in the wild

As air pressure is increased, the compressed air starts to push against the piston or diaphragm walls which causes the valve to actuate.
Air-operated valve
A small number of older aircraft also have landing gear actuated by Johnson bars.
Johnson bar (vehicle)
The glass envelope may contain multiple reed switches or multiple reed switches can be inserted into a single bobbin and actuate simultaneously.
Reed relay
The water was also used as a hydraulic fluid to actuate the valves.
Viking (rocket engine)
Two distinct actions are required to actuate the switches again.
Thrust lever

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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