agitated
Americanadjective
Usage
What does agitated mean? To feel agitated is to feel anxious, bothered, or worried. The verb agitate means to make someone feel this way. It can also mean to shake something up, stir it up, or cause it to move around roughly, as in The storm is agitating the water, stirring up huge waves. The adjective agitated can also be used to describe something that has been stirred up in this way. The noun agitation can refer to the feeling of being agitated, as in There is a lot of agitation among the employees who have not yet been paid. Example: The cable news channel blaring in the waiting room makes me really agitated—they really shouldn’t have that around people who are about to get their blood pressure taken.
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Someone who is agitated is visibly upset. If you have ever walked into a room and instantly been asked, "What's wrong?" you probably looked agitated. The verb agitate means "to shake up." So someone who is agitated has been shaken up by something — disturbing news, a careless driver who nearly caused a huge accident, or just a very long, very bad day. Agitated can also describe being activated, or fired up about something. For example, a political cause might be losing steam until an event like a rally gets everyone agitated all over again.
Vocabulary lists containing agitated
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Emotions on Display
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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.
Your mood shifts, you feel agitated, but you can't see or hear anything unusual.
From Science Daily • May 3, 2026
McIlroy was still agitated with reporters at the US Open in June.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026
A security guard, watching the flow, offered a relaxed smile as the travelers grew more agitated: “They’re short-staffed. Please be patient.”
From Slate • Mar. 26, 2026
If I wanted to watch a pair of agitated fortysomethings engage in a comically meaningless tangle, I would hit the parking lot at a travel soccer tournament.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026
“Everyone knows us,” the man said, a bit agitated.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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.
