stirring
Americanadjective
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rousing, exciting, or thrilling.
a stirring speech.
-
moving, active, bustling, or lively.
a stirring business.
noun
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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
- stirringly adverb
- unstirring adjective
Etymology
Origin of stirring
before 900; Middle English stiringe, Old English styriende. See stir 1, -ing 2
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.
In one of the film’s most stirring moments, indicative of its quiet power, Duvall keeps his back to the camera as he sings a lullaby hymn only for himself.
From Los Angeles Times
He lost the Democratic Party nomination in 1988 to Michael Dukakis, but his stirring speech at the party convention that year had more than a few Democrats wondering if they had nominated the right man.
A speech Bass delivered at Raman’s rally in Sherman Oaks was turned into a social media video with stirring background music.
From Los Angeles Times
It took coming out and years of evaluating my gender identity to uncover the question stirring at the root of my fixation: Do I want Augustus Waters, or do I want to be Augustus Waters?
From Salon
No bubbling stream was stirring it into life and keeping it topped up to the brim.
From Literature
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.
