1
as in activating
to cause to function
a light actuated by a motion detector the alarm system actuates the door locks
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in driving
to set or keep in motion
hearing depends on sound vibrations that actuate the complex mechanism of that sensory organ, the ear
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of actuating
Creating such complex structures combining soft and rigid features and actuating them with artificial muscles would further our understanding of natural kinematic structures.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 6 Mar. 2026
Dynamic soft robots To create OCTOID’s modular actuating legs, researchers fabricated active (AL) and passive layers (PL) from cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) using a bottom-up self-assembly of reactive mesogens, crosslinkers, and chain extenders.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 26 Oct. 2025
IEEE Spectrum, 6 Mar. 2026
Dynamic soft robots To create OCTOID’s modular actuating legs, researchers fabricated active (AL) and passive layers (PL) from cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) using a bottom-up self-assembly of reactive mesogens, crosslinkers, and chain extenders.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 26 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for actuating
Verb
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Coach Natalie Nakase said this week that activating the Australian point guard will be a game-time decision.—
Nathan Canilao,
Mercury News,
8 May 2026
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The princess has done an amazing job at activating people's minds about the value and importance of this.—
Simon Perry,
PEOPLE,
6 May 2026
Verb
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The critical shipping passage has been a key point of the war, driving up gas prices.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
17 May 2026
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Schauffele ranks in the tournament’s top five in both putting and driving, and has hit 28 of 42 fairways this week.—
Brendan Quinn,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
Verb
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However, in April 2025, the government broke the news that a license would be required for exports of Nvidia's H20 products in the China market, triggering an automatic adjustment to the goals.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
13 May 2026
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Now the Iran war has heaped fresh pressure on those businesses, choking critical shipping lanes, triggering a historic energy shock, and threatening to crimp global demand for Chinese goods across the board.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
13 May 2026
Verb
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In other words, this is basically a demonic-possession story, albeit one without any actual demons; at one point, Nikki briefly starts moving backward for no reason.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
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Meanwhile Varda is planning for more partnerships and a faster launch cadence, eventually moving from a launch per quarter to every other month.—
Ramin Skibba,
Scientific American,
15 May 2026
Verb
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And the company has made numerous acquisitions (such as Alphasimplex, AGI and Stone Harbor) in hopes of sparking longer-term growth.—
Brett Owens,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2026
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Polish officials said migrants have used Molotov cocktails in at least two incidents, sparking fires near the border.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
17 May 2026
Verb
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Brown is using his 7-footers as a turbo propelling the Knicks to its first legitimate title run in more than 50 years.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
16 May 2026
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The gravity assist maneuver will act not unlike a slingshot, propelling the spacecraft on a trajectory to arrive at the metallic main-belt asteroid Psyche in 2029, NASA explained.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Actuating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/actuating. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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