activation
Pluralactivations (some meanings)
- 1The act of making something active and effective, or bringing it into a working state.
Activation of the emergency plan required approval from two managers.
The software finishes activation automatically once you enter the license key.
Similarinitiation, triggering, launch
Oppositedeactivation, shutdown
Note
Counted rather than massed, the word names each separate triggering. Alarm activations are individual occasions on which an alarm went off, and they can be tallied, blamed for delays, and reset one by one. Used without an article, activation names the general act of switching something on. The plural is the natural choice whenever the reader needs to know how many times it happened.
- 2The promotion of a brand through a dedicated event or marketing campaign.
The agency designed an activation that let shoppers sample the product inside the store.
Stadium activations gave fans hands-on experiences with the sponsor's brand.
Note
Marketing makes the word countable in a concrete way: an activation is the event itself, such as a sampling stand, a pop-up, or a stadium experience. The goal is to turn passive awareness into participation, which is why the trade speaks of shopper activation, the effort to convert people browsing in a store into buyers. Outside the industry, the term can sound like jargon.
- 3The process that puts molecules into a state in which they can undergo a chemical reaction.
The enzyme lowers the energy required for activation of the substrate.
Activation of the reactants began only after the temperature rose sharply.
Note
Chemists use the word for an energy hurdle rather than a change of identity. Reacting molecules must be raised to a threshold before their bonds can rearrange. Heat or light can supply that energy, or a catalyst can lower the barrier itself. The sense lives on in activation energy and the activation barrier. It should not be confused with the nuclear sense, where the substance itself becomes radioactive.
- 4In nuclear physics, the creation of a radioactive isotope by exposing a stable element to a stream of neutrons or protons.
Activation of the cobalt target produced a radioactive isotope within hours.
After prolonged neutron bombardment, activation rendered the sample radioactive.
Note
A physicist's activation changes the material itself. Unlike the everyday switching-on, nothing here is merely set working: a stable nuclide, struck by neutrons, protons or other particles, captures one or reacts with it and comes out a radioisotope. The target is what is activated, so the word belongs to the sample that becomes radioactive, not to the beam that strikes it.
Practice
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