- present participle of stir.
stirring
Americanadjective
-
rousing, exciting, or thrilling.
a stirring speech.
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moving, active, bustling, or lively.
a stirring business.
noun
-
stirrings
plural
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a mental impulse, sensation, or feeling.
stirrings of hope.
-
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:
Add the cornbread and cook, stirring and turning occasionally, until crisp and golden.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
In a whitewashed basement in a village south of Kabul, a dozen young women bustle about, stirring cauldrons of bubbling cherries and plums, and sticking labels on glass jam jars.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
It was a stirring sight — and yet a sad one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
At Mars, the solar wind appears to produce a similar effect by "stirring" the outer boundary of the upper atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the Count’s room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Celtic took care of Rangers on Sunday to set up the grandest finale, a round of fixtures on Wednesday and then the last stirrings on Saturday.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
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
Being around family — especially the teens — gave Donaldson the initial stirrings for the script she would write.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2024
These cozy, arboreal stays come with peace and quiet among the stirrings of chipmunks, deer and bald eagles.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
Most important of all, the resistance that African Americans demonstrated during the riots in Washington, Chicago, Elaine, and elsewhere were the first stirrings of what would develop into a movement that would change America forever.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
