Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To treat or coat (a metal) in order to reduce the chemical reactivity of its surface.
  • transitive verb To coat (a semiconductor, for example) with an oxide layer to protect against contamination and increase electrical stability.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb chemistry to reduce the chemical reactivity of a surface by applying a coating

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Failing that - perhaps because it has too little fuel to move - it must "passivate" itself by deactivating all its systems.

    Top Headlines 2010

  • "passivate" itself by deactivating all its systems.

    New Scientist - Online News 2010

  • "passivate" itself by deactivating all its systems.

    New Scientist - Space 2010

  • May 31, 2006, 3: 33 am bad debt reserve says: bad debt reserve daring attainments blackberry Chinatown passivate impulses

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Occidental College’s censorship of radio station – 2004

  • Once the bare metal, pre-production Mulsanne bodyshell arrives at the paint shop via the automated overhead gantry, it passes through a series of full-immersion tanks, designed first to de-grease, then in turn to clean, condition, rinse, phosphate and passivate the steel and aluminium structure.

    Automotive Headlines dse@theautochannel.com 2010

  • As such the application when running under no stress would work fine, but only when the specific Bounded Task Flow was called, and only when the specific Bounded Task Flow was under stress and needed to passivate to the ps_txn table did we see ADF throw the above errors.

    Latest News from JAVA Developer's Journal 2010

  • Once the bare metal, pre-production Mulsanne bodyshell arrives at the paint shop via the automated overhead gantry, it passes through a series of full-immersion tanks, designed first to de-grease, then in turn to clean, condition, rinse, phosphate and passivate the steel and aluminium structure.

    Autoblog Jonny Lieberman 2010

  • • Electropolishing is the process used on stainless steel tubing and fittings to simultaneously smooth, brighten, clean and passivate the interior surfaces of these components.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Directly Functionalize (Si-C, no intermediate oxide) of silicon nanowire surface as a possible solution to passivate the surface and avoid oxidation.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows pinkfans5 2009

  • I could support Mr. Obama more wholeheartedly if he didn’t ask for anyone’s prayers, because I don’t believe that nature has a personality that takes any interest in human affairs, and I think that Americans are misled to believe that an imaginary immortal personality is responsible for the human condition, not humans themselves, to passivate us to the experience of injustice.

    Obama’s Thank-You Note - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

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