agitate
Americanverb (used with object)
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agitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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agitated,
past participle, past
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agitating
present participle
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to move or force into violent, irregular action.
The hurricane winds agitated the sea.
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to shake or move briskly.
The machine agitated the mixture.
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to move to and fro; impart regular motion to.
- Synonyms:
- wave
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to disturb or excite emotionally; arouse; perturb.
a crowd agitated to a frenzy by impassioned oratory; a man agitated by disquieting news.
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to call attention to by speech or writing; discuss; debate.
to agitate the question.
- Synonyms:
- dispute
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to consider on all sides; revolve in the mind; plan.
verb (used without object)
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agitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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agitated,
past participle, past
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agitating
present participle
verb
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(tr) to excite, disturb, or trouble (a person, the mind, or feelings); worry
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(tr) to cause to move vigorously; shake, stir, or disturb
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(intr; often foll by for or against) to attempt to stir up public opinion for or against something
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(tr) to discuss or debate in order to draw attention to or gain support for (a cause, etc)
to agitate a political cause
Usage
What does agitate mean? To agitate someone is to make them feel anxious, bothered, or worried. Someone who feels this way can be described as agitated. Things that make you feel this way can be described as agitating. To agitate something is to shake it up, stir it up, or cause it to move around roughly, as in The storm agitated the water, stirring up huge waves. The noun agitation refers to the act or process of agitating in this way. It also commonly refers to the state or feeling of being agitated, as in There is a lot of agitation among the employees who have not yet been paid. The verb agitate is also used in a more specific way to mean to attempt to promote support or opposition for a political or social cause, especially by repeatedly raising the issue and bringing awareness to it. The act of doing this can be called agitation, and a person who does this can be called an agitator. Example: The cable news channel blaring in the waiting room really agitates me—they really shouldn’t have that around people who are about to get their blood pressure taken.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reagitateverb
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overagitateverb (used with object)
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preagitateverb (used with object)
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agitableadjective
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agitatedadjective
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agitativeadjective
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agitatedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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agitatesimple
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agitatessimple
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have agitatedperfect
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has agitatedperfect
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am agitatingprogressive
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are agitatingprogressive
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is agitatingprogressive
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have been agitatingperfect progressive
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has been agitatingperfect progressive
Past
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agitatedsimple
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had agitatedperfect
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was agitatingprogressive
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were agitatingprogressive
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had been agitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of agitate
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin agitātus, past participle of agitāre “to set in motion,” literally, “to do repeatedly,” from agere “to do, drive”
Explanation
Agitate means to stir up. If you watch a horror movie at bedtime, you may be too agitated to sleep. Movies like that can agitate all sorts of adrenaline responses in the body. Agitate derives from a Latin word that means "to drive away." The meaning has changed, but you can see where old meets new—a washing machine agitates dirty clothes in warm soapy water to drive away the dirt. You agitate or shake up salad dressing to mix it, driving the oil away into the vinegar.
Vocabulary lists containing agitate
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 5
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3
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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:
It might seem strange to look this deeply into the why of Matt Damon as Odysseus, since his casting didn’t agitate right-wing trolls.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Jackson continued to travel, agitate, protest, but the spotlight had moved on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
They are notorious goons, despised virtually everywhere for their ability to agitate, aggrieve and annoy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
Ocelots and jaguars prowl the forest, and spider monkeys and black howlers agitate the canopy.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023
To agitate him thus deeply, by a resistance he so abhorred, was cruel: to yield was out of the question.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
And this is kind of a shame, because the story agitates the brain far more than it does the stomach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
Conversely, when researchers injected the rats with a substance that agitates the immune system, the inflammatory cytokine levels rapidly shot up.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024
Tinseltown, it seems, is in the midst of an AI boom — even as its creative class agitates for limits on how that technology gets deployed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
This clear tank agitates a gallon of water at a gentle 18 revolutions per minute for 30 minutes.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2019
Anger agitates, while whistling melts a bee’s temper.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Paramount and other groups, including cinema chain owners and some Hollywood unions, have agitated for a settlement to curtail months of uncertainty over whether the deal will go through.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim sang Alessandro with a hooded quality and too much vibrato; he sounded messy, especially in the big register jumps of his agitated Act 2 aria.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
“I get a little agitated and the pace is really, really different.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
They know their cognition will continue to fade, and they might live for years in an agitated, delusional state where they’ll need round-the-clock care from people they don’t recognize.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
The only motion was the minute hand and the agitated red star-shaped time indicator on Fischer’s clock.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The stakes to find McDonald’s successor escalated in recent months when Lululemon’s estranged founder and an activist investor began agitating for the company to turn things around faster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Landlocked Ethiopia, home to around 130 million people and one of Africa’s strongest economies, has been agitating for sea access.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
Buck Turgidson, one of the film’s most memorable characters, while agitating the president in the war room for a first strike against the Soviet Union.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
The dollar rallied, even though Warsh has been agitating for more rate cuts, which tend to undermine the dollar’s value.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
With the absence of so many people, the town became scary, the night darker, and the silence unbearably agitating.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
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.
