agitate

verb ag·i·tate \ ˈa-jə-ˌtāt \

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of agitate

agitated; agitating

transitive verb

1 : to excite and often trouble the mind or feelings of : disturb

My presence did not appear to agitate or irritate him as before, and he accepted my services quietly …
—Charlotte Brontë

2 a : to discuss excitedly and earnestly

b : to stir up public discussion of

… trying to agitate the old question of the embezzlement of the remains of the Confederate Treasury.
—Robert Penn Warren

3 a obsolete : to give motion to

b : to move with an irregular, rapid, or violent action

The storm agitated the sea.

intransitive verb

: to attempt to arouse public feeling

agitated for better schools

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agitation

play \ˌa-jə-ˈtā-shən\ noun

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agitational

play \-shnəl, -shə-nᵊl\ adjective

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Examples of agitate in a Sentence

If I talk about the problem with him it just agitates him even more.
Some members of the union have been agitating for a strike.
A few local residents have been agitating against a military presence.
The mixture is heated and then agitated.

Recent Examples of agitate from the Web

Leon was agitated by press leaks and warned both sides the case shouldn’t be litigated in the media.

— edmund lee, Recode, "Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. lawsuit against the AT&T-Time Warner merger," 16 Mar. 2018
The move at The Post followed a prolonged, slow-burning rebellion at the Los Angeles Times, where journalists agitated against the paper’s owner, the media company Tronc.

— sydney ember, BostonGlobe.com, "Denver Post, gutted by layoffs, prints a rebuke of its owners," 8 Apr. 2018
The move at The Post followed a prolonged, slow-burning rebellion at The Los Angeles Times, where journalists agitated against the paper’s owner, the media company Tronc.

— sydney ember, New York Times, "Denver Post Rebels Against Its Hedge-Fund Ownership," 7 Apr. 2018
Throughout the current campaign Conte has come across disgruntled and agitated, and has frequently complained about the state of his squad.

— SI.com, "Antonio Conte Admits Uncertainty Over Chelsea Future Ahead of Huge Tottenham Clash," 1 Apr. 2018
That would unnerve Israel and Saudi Arabia, key U.S. allies that both agitate for a tougher U.S. approach to Tehran.

— felicia schwartz, WSJ, "Trump Freezes Funds for Syrian Recovery, Signaling Pullback," 30 Mar. 2018
There is no way to apply that teaching at the moment of greatest risk, particularly if a child or teenager is agitated.

— refinery29.com, "Teen Girl Dies After 9-Year-Old Brother Allegedly Shoots Her In The Head," 19 Mar. 2018
This winter, activist investors with Lion Point Capital acquired a 7 percent stake in the company and began agitating for a board shakeup.

— mike rogoway, OregonLive.com, "Smarsh founder Stephen Marsh named Oregon's tech exec of the year," 14 Mar. 2018
Meanwhile, back on the mainland, a movement led by American foreign-exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) is agitating to free the dogs.

— cary darling, Houston Chronicle, "Wes Anderson's 'Isle of Dogs' has bark and bite," 27 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agitate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of agitate

Middle English agitat "set in motion," borrowed from Latin agitātus, past participle of agitāre "to set in motion, drive before one, arouse, disturb, deal with, turn over in the mind," frequentative of agere "to drive, be in motion, do, perform" — more at agent

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

agitate Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of agitate

shake, agitate, rock, convulse mean to move up and down or to and fro with some violence. shake often carries a further implication of a particular purpose.

- shake well before using

agitate suggests a violent and prolonged tossing or stirring.

- an ocean agitated by storms

rock suggests a swinging or swaying motion resulting from violent impact or upheaval.

- the whole city was rocked by the explosion

convulse suggests a violent pulling or wrenching as of a body in a paroxysm.

- spectators were convulsed with laughter

discompose, disquiet, disturb, perturb, agitate, upset, fluster mean to destroy capacity for collected thought or decisive action. discompose implies some degree of loss of self-control or self-confidence especially through emotional stress.