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
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rilesimple
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rilessimple
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have riledperfect
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has riledperfect
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am rilingprogressive
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are rilingprogressive
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is rilingprogressive
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have been rilingperfect progressive
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has been rilingperfect progressive
Past
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riledsimple
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had riledperfect
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was rilingprogressive
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were rilingprogressive
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had been rilingperfect progressive
Future
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
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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.
See Examples For:
Japan votes in snap elections Sunday with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hoping to turn a honeymoon start into a resounding ballot box victory that could rile China and rattle financial markets.
From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 2026
Whatever you wish to call it - and let's stick with Bazball, because it seems to rile the Aussies - England's fresh approach has made them a force in Test cricket once more.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025
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
In addition to public outrage, defiance of the courts could rile the courts themselves — including the Supreme Court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2025
Farmer didn’t want to rile up the establishment, but he was determined to get his points across.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
"Something that riles me is people say it's so much harder to diagnose women because they mask well," she say.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Lalas, never timid about a brash, attention-seeking rant, riles up TV audiences in a way that makes Stephen A. Smith resemble Mr. Rogers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
But there’s no holiday food that riles people up quite like fruitcake.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2023
In this case, the bait caused a stir in the sharks, similar to how catnip riles up felines.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 26, 2023
The resentment of new money riles Liz Petkevich, whose husband, J. Misha Petkevich, an investment banker and former Olympic figure skater, helped found the new yacht club.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
In back-to-back games now, the Belgians have done more than just win—they’ve also riled up their opponents in the process.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
As avid viewer Ziya M, posting on X just two days after the show's premiere, put it: "Jonasi has the whole nation riled up, external."
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Or you can get riled up with impatience, jealousy and/or dismay with a self-confessed couple who has everything, including $6 million set aside for retirement, and still want advice.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Space Force is seeking to expand the number of launches and attract aerospace companies in and around Vandenberg Space Force Base, where SpaceX launches already have riled up residents, state officials and environmentalists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
"Hey, bear! Just passing through! No reason to get riled!"
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
And Mainers have spoken about his talent for riling up a crowd with an uncommon magnetism.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
But posts like these no longer seem to be riling up Gen Z.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
The “overtourism” that irks residents of Venice and Barcelona is also riling locals in Osaka and Kyoto, where kimono-clad visitors clog the streets and temples to secure their snapshots for social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
That weekend, “60 Minutes” ran its report on Trump and the law firms, riling Redstone and others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2025
“Okay, okay. Tell me something else you remember,” I said, even though I loved Sox trivia and riling up Mr. Patterson.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
