verb
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to annoy or anger; irritate
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to stir up or agitate (water, etc); roil or make turbid
Etymology
Origin of rile
First recorded in 1815–25; variant of roil
Explanation
To rile someone is to annoy or bother them. For example, a friend might rile you by constantly texting when you're trying to have a conversation with her. You can also rile water, meaning you make it muddy by stirring it up. The verb rile is derived from roil, and they basically mean the same thing. However, rile is more commonly used to mean "annoy" and roil mostly describes stirred liquid. If you rile up your sister, what you say makes gets her worked up, ready to argue with you. When a kid splashes around in the tub, the water is roiled — but if it gets all over the floor, his parents will be riled.
Vocabulary lists containing rile
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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The Odyssey
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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.
Fears of possible US military action continued to rile the region.
From Barron's • Jan. 15, 2026
The 20-year-old rapper ian draws millions of listeners and has managed to rile up the internet in a way few rappers do.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
“I’ve never seen him to be vulgar. I’ve never seen him be disrespectful or rile people up against the law enforcement or ICE. No, he simply informs. The guy is a good man.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2025
It’s certainly possible that this is ragebait—a confession so calculatedly oblivious to its own evil that it can’t possibly be true, its only goal to rile up outrage for internet points.
From Slate • Apr. 26, 2024
“No, ma'am,” I said, but I felt something inside me rile up.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
