- present participle of stir.
stirring
Americanadjective
-
rousing, exciting, or thrilling.
a stirring speech.
-
moving, active, bustling, or lively.
a stirring business.
noun
-
stirrings
plural
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a mental impulse, sensation, or feeling.
stirrings of hope.
-
a small movement.
the best thing she could do was to pretend that her husband's nocturnal stirrings didn't wake her
adjective
-
exciting the emotions; stimulating
-
active, lively, or busy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stirring
before 900; Middle English stiringe, Old English styriende. See stir 1, -ing 2
Explanation
Something that's stirring is gripping or moving—it inspires some kind of powerful emotion, like Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. When people sing stirring songs at church, during a protest march, or around the piano at home, they might make you cry, while a stirring public speaker often makes the crowd feel enthusiastic and roused to action. In the 15th century, this adjective had a much more literal meaning: "in active motion, or animated." The verb stir, "move, rouse, or agitate," shares a root with storm.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The trophy is a giant version of the traditional wooden tool used for stirring porridge, thick soups, and stew.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
These protest-laden times couldn’t be more receptive to the stirring “Everybody to Kenmure Street,” which speaks to a moment when the machinery of institutional cruelty was ground to a halt by righteous neighborliness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
By heating, stirring, and disrupting gas throughout the CGM, black hole jets can make it harder for that material to cool and fall back toward the galaxy.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
Still, the scenes kindled a sense of something rare stirring: hope.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
No one was stirring down-stairs, so I unbolted the door and went out.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Sometimes that summary nestles within internal stirrings, like the goosebumps produced by the opening chords of Jane’s Addiction’s “Ocean Size” when Sydney Chandler’s Wendy realizes she can speak to the xemomorphs.
From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025
And everywhere the ambient stirrings of the 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen mega-audio with integrated noise canceling, featuring a “Quiet mode” that allows adults in front to talk without waking the kids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
The first real stirrings of a proper red army in the land of the green and the gold.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
Being around family — especially the teens — gave Donaldson the initial stirrings for the script she would write.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2024
For a long time I lay silent in the huge shadowy barracks restless with the sighs, snores, and stirrings of hundreds of women.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
