Synonyms

agitate

American

[aj-i-tayt] / ˈædʒ ɪˌteɪt /

verb (used with object)

to move or force into violent, irregular action.

The hurricane winds agitated the sea.

Synonyms:

toss, disturb

Antonyms:

soothe, calm
to shake or move briskly.

The machine agitated the mixture.
to move to and fro; impart regular motion to.

Synonyms:

wave
to disturb or excite emotionally; arouse; perturb.

a crowd agitated to a frenzy by impassioned oratory; a man agitated by disquieting news.

Synonyms:

roil, fluster, ruffle
to call attention to by speech or writing; discuss; debate.

to agitate the question.

Synonyms:

dispute
to consider on all sides; revolve in the mind; plan.

verb (used without object)

to arouse or attempt to arouse public interest and support, as in some political or social cause or theory.

to agitate for the repeal of a tax.

agitate British

/ ˈædʒɪˌteɪt /

verb

(tr) to excite, disturb, or trouble (a person, the mind, or feelings); worry
(tr) to cause to move vigorously; shake, stir, or disturb
(intr; often foll by for or against) to attempt to stir up public opinion for or against something
(tr) to discuss or debate in order to draw attention to or gain support for (a cause, etc)

to agitate a political cause

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What does agitate mean? To agitate someone is to make them feel anxious, bothered, or worried. Someone who feels this way can be described as agitated. Things that make you feel this way can be described as agitating. To agitate something is to shake it up, stir it up, or cause it to move around roughly, as in The storm agitated the water, stirring up huge waves. The noun agitation refers to the act or process of agitating in this way. It also commonly refers to the state or feeling of being agitated, as in There is a lot of agitation among the employees who have not yet been paid. The verb agitate is also used in a more specific way to mean to attempt to promote support or opposition for a political or social cause, especially by repeatedly raising the issue and bringing awareness to it. The act of doing this can be called agitation, and a person who does this can be called an agitator. Example: The cable news channel blaring in the waiting room really agitates me—they really shouldn’t have that around people who are about to get their blood pressure taken.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of agitate

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin agitātus, past participle of agitāre “to set in motion,” literally, “to do repeatedly,” from agere “to do, drive”

Explanation

Agitate means to stir up. If you watch a horror movie at bedtime, you may be too agitated to sleep. Movies like that can agitate all sorts of adrenaline responses in the body. Agitate derives from a Latin word that means "to drive away." The meaning has changed, but you can see where old meets new—a washing machine agitates dirty clothes in warm soapy water to drive away the dirt. You agitate or shake up salad dressing to mix it, driving the oil away into the vinegar.

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Vocabulary lists containing agitate

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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:

agitate agitates agitated agitating

Cheaper Mexican workers had been welcomed during World War I, and were still coming north more casually back then, even as a U.S. labor group was beginning to agitate for organizing American migrant farm workers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

They are notorious goons, despised virtually everywhere for their ability to agitate, aggrieve and annoy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

Little things are starting to agitate me every day.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025

It appeared to agitate Cannon, who questioned the prosecution about why it was being brought up for the first time at the hearing.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2023

Personally, I would agitate quite adamantly if I suspected that anyone w'ere attempting to help me upward toward the middle class.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

And this is kind of a shame, because the story agitates the brain far more than it does the stomach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

Conversely, when researchers injected the rats with a substance that agitates the immune system, the inflammatory cytokine levels rapidly shot up.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024

Tinseltown, it seems, is in the midst of an AI boom — even as its creative class agitates for limits on how that technology gets deployed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023

That’s why worry agitates us, persistently or even relentlessly, because it exists to engage us in dealing with future uncertainties and working to make things turn out all right.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2023

And then something else happens that agitates Helmuth, that makes him all the more determined to wake up the people of Germany.

From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

We have agitated for paid parental leave, universal childcare, better public schools, child allowances, and other help for struggling parents.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

Hundreds of people crammed into the school gym that April evening, and the debate over Point Reyes agitated into a low boil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Wilby told the court he had hoped to continue their previous conversation about the constituent on the Tube, but claimed Creasy "became quite agitated" and that he was "quite shocked by her reaction".

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

After an agitated week, it felt like a proper, pleasant ending.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Indeed, he gave an agitated flutter of his wings and half flew, half hopped closer to her, bending forward until his great sharp beak was only a few inches from her face.

From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien

“We do not know the answer, but we have seen them take this approach in other situations when agitating for change,” Moskow said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

The stakes to find McDonald’s successor escalated in recent months when Lululemon’s estranged founder and an activist investor began agitating for the company to turn things around faster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

Landlocked Ethiopia, home to around 130 million people and one of Africa’s strongest economies, has been agitating for sea access.

From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026

Buck Turgidson, one of the film’s most memorable characters, while agitating the president in the war room for a first strike against the Soviet Union.

From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026

With the absence of so many people, the town became scary, the night darker, and the silence unbearably agitating.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023