Definition of "actuate" []

• To put into motion or action; activate: electrical relays that actuate the elevator's movements. (verb-transitive)
• To move to action: a speech that actuated dissent. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Not only does he have excellent medical credentials but he fits what Obama wants in someone who has the ability to "actuate" change."
• "What's worse, the Storm2's implementation requires a surprising amount of effort to actuate, meaning that long messages were a chore to type out -- not only do they wear out your fingers, but it gets old hearing the screen's loud "thunk" each and every time you type a letter, which we find considerably more noticeable than the traditional click of a physical QWERTY keyboard."
• "The problem is the way you smoke the first one back – smokers actuate their dose."