roil

American  

[roil] / rɔɪl /

verb (used with object)

• roils,
  present (3rd person singular)
• roiled,
  past participle,  past
• roiling
  present participle

1. to render (water, wine, etc.) turbid by stirring up sediment.

2. to disturb or disquiet; irritate; vex.

   to be roiled by a delay.

   Synonyms:

   rile, provoke, exasperate, ruffle, fret, annoy

---

verb (used without object)

• roils,
  present (3rd person singular)
• roiled,
  past participle,  past
• roiling
  present participle

1. to move or proceed turbulently.

roil British  

/ rɔɪl /

verb

1. (tr) to make (a liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up dregs or sediment

2. (intr) (esp of a liquid) to be agitated or disturbed

3. dialect (intr) to be noisy or boisterous

4. (tr) another word (now rare) for rile

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unroiled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• roiling
  present
• roiled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• roil
  simple
• roils
  simple
• have roiled
  perfect
• has roiled
  perfect
• am roiling
  progressive
• are roiling
  progressive
• is roiling
  progressive
• have been roiling
  perfect progressive
• has been roiling
  perfect progressive

Past

• roiled
  simple
• had roiled
  perfect
• was roiling
  progressive
• were roiling
  progressive
• had been roiling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will roil
  simple
• will have roiled
  perfect
• will be roiling
  progressive
• will have been roiling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of roil

First recorded in 1580–90; origin uncertain

Explanation

To roil means to stir up or churn. A stormy ocean might roil, or even a restless crowd. The word roil is often confused with rile, which has a slightly different meaning. If you roil someone you're stirring them up but not necessarily annoying them. To rile someone is to deliberately provoke or antagonize them. Usually there's no roiling without riling. Muhammad Ali roiled much of America when he refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roil roils roiled roiling

Fund managers say they are less eager to take risky bets as geopolitical events roil markets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

The shares were pointing 5% lower ahead of the open Tuesday, though, as a broad tech selloff looked set to roil markets.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Now, however, the counterterrorism director’s role is coming back to light as hostilities roil the Middle East and heighten the risk of attacks in the United States or against American interests or allies overseas.

From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2026

The goal was to prevent Israel from taking military action inside Iraq to try to stop the missile launches, a step Washington feared could roil the Arab members of its coalition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Worms of fire crawl down its black sides, seen when wind clears off the roil and seethe of ash-cloud and smoke-cloud and white steam.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

“When the consequences of a geopolitical crisis roils oil markets and bruises the bond market, it is only a matter of time before equities get hit,” Brooks of XTB added.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

“It roils the markets,” he said, adding that it unsettles both investors and the legal framework surrounding the Fed.

From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026

But it instead feels like an easy escape hatch when what “On Swift Horses” promised was a richer psychological landscape about what roils inside hearts accustomed to hiding.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2025

Erebus is only a 20-minute helicopter ride from McMurdo, so since the 1960s scientists have studied the volcano and the lava lake that roils within its caldera, occasionally tossing out “bombs” of molten rock.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024

My stomach roils, and I think I’ll be sick.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the seven-month conflict has roiled the global energy market and destroyed regional pipelines and refineries that will be costly to rebuild.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

In April, Anthropic roiled the AI world when it said it found that its Mythos tool could outperform humans at some hacking and cybersecurity tasks.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

British energy giant BP said Tuesday that its net profit more than doubled in the second quarter as the Middle East war roiled oil and gas markets.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

Controversy surrounding data center construction has roiled Texas in recent months, fostering a bipartisan coalition of opposition, particularly among rural and suburban residents.

From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026

The surface bubbled and roiled, as if battered by sudden rapids.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

They closed Thursday with “Seek & Destroy,” a roiling cut from their 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All,” and “Master of Puppets,” given new life as a major plot point in the horror-thriller series “Stranger Things.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthis accused the rebels on Wednesday of targeting Islam's holy city Mecca, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

The insects protect their queen, collecting in a roiling, humming mass on his hand.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The move punctured Wachtell’s invulnerable image, and it cuts to the debate roiling the legal industry about what law firms will look like in the future.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

There were no stories yet, just a roiling mass of rumor.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

• muddy
• rile
• stir