stir up

verb

stirred up; stirring up; stirs up

transitive verb

1

: to cause (someone) to feel a strong emotion and a desire to do something

The speech stirred up the crowd.

2

: to cause (something) to move up into and through the air or water

The workers stirred up a lot of dust.

3

: to cause (something, usually something bad or unpleasant) to happen

They're trying to stir up trouble.

But, of course, there's a reason politicians generally try to communicate deliberately: It helps them avoid saying things that might offend voters or stir up controversy.

—Philip Bump

I'm not a rebel, trying to stir things up just to be provocative.

—Norma Klein

… the incident stirred up a hornet's nest of protest and indignation.

—Robert T. Martinott

Examples of stir up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rather than rejecting those comparisons, Trump has been wielding them as a means to stoke his base, stir up media attention and, in some ways, win back former supporters. —Franco Ordoñez, NPR, 11 May 2024

Leave it to a tricky square between the Cancer Moon and Mars in Aries to stir up tension on the homefront on May 11. —Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 10 May 2024

In the meantime, Microsoft’s decision to close the four studios is also stirring up questions about the future of Xbox. —Michael Kan, PCMAG, 10 May 2024

Snippets of the footage, first released by Italian media outlets this week, have stirred up controversy in the European country, with some slamming officers’ treatment of 26-year-old Matteo Falcinelli as rough and excessive. —Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 8 May 2024

On top of that, the shallowness made excavations tricky because strong winds caused waves that stirred up the sediment on the bottom of the sea. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2024

Just stir up the dough, spoon it into the pot, cover and come back in about a half-hour. —Sheri Castle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 May 2024

Current stirs up water, mixing the colder, deeper water with shallower, warmer water. —Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 1 May 2024

With his release from Israeli prison demanded by Fatah’s rival, Hamas, and even advocated by a former Israeli spy chief, the mere possibility of Mr. Barghouti’s return to the scene is stirring up Palestinian politics, and hope, at a historic crossroads. —Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1