reactivate

verbB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,487 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: reactivated, reactivating, reactivates

To reactivate is to bring something back into use. Reactivate the account, reactivated the alarm, reactivate a service.

It implies the thing was working before and was switched off rather than broken, which is what separates it from repair. Accounts, alarms and old volcanoes all take it. Note the re- meaning again, and activate beneath it.

Definitions of reactivate

1verbreactivateTo bring something back into use.B2+
“I reactivated my old gym membership after the holidays.”

reactivate is a bringing back.

Where it comes from

From re- + activate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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reactivate in the wild

The railroad didn't function for several years, until recent government effort to reactivate it for city transportation.
Transport in Costa Rica
The crew of the mission was sent by MirCorp, a privately funded company, to reactivate and repair the station.
Soyuz TM-30
A Ghon's complex retains viable bacteria, making them sources of long-term infection, which may reactivate and trigger secondary tuberculosis later in life.
Ghon's complex
However, after a fan fundraising effort, the Brown Bears applied to the NAHL for approval to reactivate in April 2017 and was approved.
Kenai River Brown Bears
In 2025, it was announced that the Government of Tasikmalaya City will reactivate the airport.
Wiriadinata Airport

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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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