(transitive) To activate, or to put into motion; to animate.
Wings, which others were contriving to actuate by the perpetual motion.
(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.