actuate
verb /ˈæktʃueɪt/
/ˈæktʃueɪt/
(formal)动词形式
| present simple I / you / we / they actuate | /ˈæktʃueɪt/ /ˈæktʃueɪt/ |
| he / she / it actuates | /ˈæktʃueɪts/ /ˈæktʃueɪts/ |
| past simple actuated | /ˈæktʃueɪtɪd/ /ˈæktʃueɪtɪd/ |
| past participle actuated | /ˈæktʃueɪtɪd/ /ˈæktʃueɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form actuating | /ˈæktʃueɪtɪŋ/ /ˈæktʃueɪtɪŋ/ |
- actuate something to make a machine or device start to work
开动（机器、装置等） - The timer must have been actuated by radio control.
计时器一定是由无线电控制启动的。
- The timer must have been actuated by radio control.
- [usually passive] to make somebody behave in a particular way
激励；驱使 - be actuated by something He was actuated entirely by malice.
他完全是出于恶意。
- be actuated by something He was actuated entirely by malice.
词源late 16th cent.: from medieval Latin actuat- ‘carried out, caused to operate’, from the verb actuare, from Latin actus ‘event, thing done’, act- ‘done’, from the verb agere, reinforced by the French noun acte. The original sense was ‘carry out in practice’, later ‘stir into activity, enliven’; sense (1) dates from the mid 17th cent.