actuate

verb

1. (transitive)To activate, or to put into motion; to animate.

   “Wings, which others were contriving to actuate by the perpetual motion.”

   “I walk always with my right hand closed round the india-rubber ball which I have in my trouser pocket. The pressing of this ball actuates a detonator inside the flask I carry in my pocket. It's the principle of the pneumatic instantaneous shutter for a camera lens.”

2. (transitive)To incite to action; to motivate.

   “1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, 2. ed., London, Oxford University Press, 1973. § 11. A man in a fit of anger, is actuated in a very different manner from one who only thinks of that emotion.”

   “Men of the greatest abilities are most fired with ambition; and, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the least actuated by it.”