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

Such a move would further roil already skittish energy markets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The result is one of the strangest custody battles to ever roil the aerospace and museum industries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Markets are getting tired of the apparent lack of progress around the U.S.-Iran peace talks and that’s creating a risk of an eventual sharp jump in oil prices, which would roil bond and stock markets.

From Barron's ● May 19, 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

Aru’s guilt was beginning to roil in her stomach.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

“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

He said it bodes well for the species as climate change roils vast ecosystems across the planet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2024

Lucas benefits from both Menzies’ natural reserve and his ability to show what roils beneath that stoicism, a game of emotive hide-and-seek.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

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

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

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

Surging oil prices roiled the global economy and prompted the U.S. to eat into oil reserves to bring prices down.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Instead of a roiled mess of waves cancelling each other out, you would have a pond of perfectly ordered waves, with high points and low points appearing regularly at the same spots again and again.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

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 roiling mass of water, unleashed by a glacial collapse, swept down the Trishuli river, devastating a roughly 40-mile corridor of dams that were supposed to drive economic growth for mountainous Nepal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

But that construction boom isn’t the only factor—and the fallout from this supply squeeze is roiling every corner of the global economy, from stock markets to manufacturing capacity to trade relations.

From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026

“A roiling, dark column pumped and convected up as a high cloud looking like dirty cauliflower but every knob moving,” he remembered.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

Related Words

• muddy
• rile
• stir