activate vs kill

activate

verb
  • To render more reactive; excite. 

  • To organize or create a military unit or station. 

  • To bring a player back after an injury. 

  • To put a device, mechanism (alarm etc.) or system into action or motion; to trigger, to actuate, to set off, to enable. 

  • To render a substance radioactive. 

  • To hasten a chemical reaction, especially by heating. 

  • To remove the limitations of demoware by providing a license; to unlock. 

  • To render a molecule reactive, active, or effective in performing its function. 

  • To encourage development or induce increased activity; to stimulate. 

  • To aerate in order to aid decomposition of organic matter. 

kill

verb
  • To exert an overwhelming effect on. 

  • To strike (a ball, etc.) with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point. 

  • To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt. 

  • To punish severely. 

  • To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay. 

  • To produce intense pain. 

  • To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate. 

  • To put to death; to extinguish the life of. 

  • To exert oneself to an excessive degree. 

  • To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate. 

  • To force a company out of business. 

  • To deadmelt. 

  • To render inoperative. 

  • To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy. 

  • To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in. 

  • To use up or to waste. 

  • To cause to assume the value zero. 

  • To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network. 

  • To sexually penetrate in a skillful way. 

  • To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat. 

noun
  • The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally. 

  • Specifically, the death blow. 

  • A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea. 

  • The act of killing. 

  • The result of killing; that which has been killed. 

How often have the words activate and kill occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )