What does -agog mean? The combining form -agog is used like a suffix meaning “leader” or "bringer." In medical terms, it is used to name substances that cause the flow or the release of a substance. It is occasionally used in scientific and technical terms. The form -agog comes from Greek -agōgos, meaning “leading.” The Latin cognate of this form is agēns, “doing” or “driving,” which is the source of words such as agent and agency. To learn more, check out our entries for both words. The form -agog is a less-common variant of -agogue. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article for -agogue.
First recorded in 1535–45; variant of on gog (in phrase set on gog “rouse, stir up”), from Middle French en gogues; see à gogo
The word agog means with great excitement and interest. When you’re falling over yourself with excitement and curiosity to see who’s coming up the red carpet next, you’re agog about celebrities. At Christmas time, you are probably agog to see what's in all the beautifully wrapped boxes. An easy way to remember what agog means is to think of it as goggle-eyed, which it sounds a bit like. When you’re agog, you’re goggle-eyed with excitement about something, whatever that happens to be. In truth, the word has nothing to do with goggle-eyes, but instead relates to the Middle French word en gogues which means "full of mirth, good humor, and joyfulness."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Christopher finally has the showcase he deserves, and the vibrancy and vigor of his talent has Broadway justifiably agog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
An interlacing of memoir and anecdote, it begins with the author as a young boy, growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., left agog by the Bronx Zoo’s immersive Amazon exhibit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
The love life of South Africa's Zulu king has the country agog - and has scandalised his socially conservative subjects as he messes with tradition by seeking a divorce.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2025
Its reappearance a couple of weeks ago was so unexpected that the fountain pen community, which makes up a small but passionate corner of the office supplies market, was agog.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
They were agog and waited wide-eared to hear.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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.
