stirring
Americanadjective
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rousing, exciting, or thrilling.
a stirring speech.
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moving, active, bustling, or lively.
a stirring business.
noun
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stirrings
plural
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a mental impulse, sensation, or feeling.
stirrings of hope.
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a small movement.
the best thing she could do was to pretend that her husband's nocturnal stirrings didn't wake her
adjective
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exciting the emotions; stimulating
-
active, lively, or busy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stirring
before 900; Middle English stiringe, Old English styriende. See stir 1, -ing 2
Explanation
Something that's stirring is gripping or moving—it inspires some kind of powerful emotion, like Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. When people sing stirring songs at church, during a protest march, or around the piano at home, they might make you cry, while a stirring public speaker often makes the crowd feel enthusiastic and roused to action. In the 15th century, this adjective had a much more literal meaning: "in active motion, or animated." The verb stir, "move, rouse, or agitate," shares a root with storm.
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:
New offensive coordinator Sean Mannion has arrived from Green Bay to make the offense slightly more stirring than a capybara gently chewing on grass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Constant stirring helps remove air bubbles, resulting in completely transparent ice, known as "junpyo" in Japanese.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
“Between Panic and Paradise,” Eileen Cowin’s penetrating retrospective at LACMA, begins in the present, with large, recent color photographs and her newest work, a stirring video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
The five-piece Seattle band, who play "aggressive yet emotionally stirring heavy metal" according to AllMusic, external, released their 12th album in September 2025 and have 350,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Jason used her long stirring sticks, and the tóshchíín came out smooth!
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
And everywhere the ambient stirrings of the 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen mega-audio with integrated noise canceling, featuring a “Quiet mode” that allows adults in front to talk without waking the kids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
The first real stirrings of a proper red army in the land of the green and the gold.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
He left his role as CEO of WWE in 2022 when the first stirrings of those accusations began to circulate.
From Salon ● Dec. 12, 2024
Being around family — especially the teens — gave Donaldson the initial stirrings for the script she would write.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2024
Oversized menus clutched in her arms, Grace felt the first proud stirrings of power rush up from her pedicured toes to the very top curl on her head.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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.
