The phrase "activate a key" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts related to technology, software, or security, where a key (such as a software key or a physical key) needs to be activated for use.
Example: "To access the premium features of the software, you must first activate a key provided during your purchase."
Alternatives: "enable a key" or "turn on a key".
It is a line of attack echoed across the US as midterm campaigns heat up, and Democrats seek to activate a key demographic constituency.
It is displayed on the touch screen, but to activate a key you have to put a finger on it and depress the screen, which is a giant click button.
Performed in cells and in mice, her group's research began with an attempt to see what nutrients might activate a key protein called AMP kinase (AMPK), said Patti, senior author on a paper about the work published in Molecular Metabolism.
Membrane-type matrix metalloproteinases (MT-MMPs) have attracted strong attention, because four of them can activate a key player in the tumor scenario, proMMP-2/progelatinase A. In addition to this indirect effect on the cellular environment, these MT-MMPs degrade extracellular matrix proteins, and their overproduction is associated with tumor growth.
The most successful social media campaigns activate a key emotion or emotions.
Thus, the treatment may rapidly activate a key transcription factor that induces angiogenesis.
■ A man with a handgun approached the mother of the Hall of Famer Cal Ripken in a bank parking lot in Maryland and demanded her car, but she activated a key alarm and he left, the police said.
So when the Starbucks manager in Philadelphia picked up the phone and dialed 911 two minutes after Nelson and Robinson arrived, she was not only enacting a centuries-old white supremacist trope or activating a key mechanism for keeping spaces white.
Thus, ghrelin activates a key mesolimbic circuit involved in natural as well as drug-induced reinforcement, the cholinergic-dopaminergic reward link (Jerlhag et al. 2006, 2007, 2008).
Upon their return, Jack realizes that the present year is when Tommy will be needed: he will have to travel back to 1918 and activate a Rift Key to close the connection between 1918 and the present and prevent disaster.
