agog

1 of 2

adjective

ə-ˈgäg

Synonyms of agog next

: full of intense interest or excitement : eager

"… That was the year the Twilight movie was going to come out, and the kids were agog with all things vampire. …"—

Shelley Dorrill

"… There goes Mrs. Tony now, all agog to spread such a delectable bit of gossip."—

Lucy Maud Montgomery

: wide open : agape

His talent [as a painter] is so enormous that you look at his surfaces with your mouth agog at the near-impossibility of it all.—

Murray Whyte

: full of wonder or surprise : astonished

Jones … fired a strike to a waiting receiver that left his coaches agog.—

MK Bower

: full of lively activity : bustling

In the evenings … the streets … were agog with life.—

Meridel Le Sueur

: abundantly filled : replete

His lyrics are agog with images that manage to be poetic and earthy at the same time …—

Daisann McLane

agog

2 of 2

adverb

: in an excited or astonished manner

… he posed for photographs with rugby fans of all ages, before playing with the 39 youths who were staring agog at their idol.—

New Ross (Ireland) Echo

Did you know?

English speakers have been clamoring over the word agog for over 450 years. The word probably derives from the Middle French phrase en gogues, but the semantic link between en gogues (meaning "in a state of mirth") and the earliest English uses of agog, which exist in the phrase "to set agog" ("to excite, stimulate, make eager"), are not entirely clear. The -gog part of the word might make one wonder if agog has a connection to the verb goggle, meaning "to stare with wide or protuberant eyes," as in the manner of one who is intensely excited about something. That word actually has a different origin: the Middle English gogelen, meaning "to squint." In many instances, agog is followed by a preposition, such as over or about.

Examples of agog in a Sentence

Adjective The news has chemists agog. Her supporters were agog at the idea. The town is agog over the plan.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

And then there are items that leave restaurant staffers agog. —

Tori Latham, Robb Report, 9 Oct. 2023 Some have drawn blood and others have been bloodied (and some others left agog as Trump walked out unexpectedly). —

Brian Steinberg, Variety, 15 Sep. 2023 Now that Gucci is between creative captains once again, the audience will be similarly agog to discover the author of its next chapter. —

Luke Leitch, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2022 People were agog with this. —

Lance Eliot, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2022 Our region is agog. —

BostonGlobe.com, 2 Oct. 2021 The physics community was agog. —

Jonathon Keats, Discover Magazine, 3 Jan. 2019 Today, no one walks into their dentist's office and looks agog at the X-ray machine. —

Ophir Tanz, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023 And the findings emerge when many Latter-day Saints and church observers are already agog at other recently reported multibillion-dollar figures associated with the faith’s wealth. —

The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Apr. 2022

Adverb

The humble salad may just be leaving diners agog because they’re not used to paying so much for some dressed greens with a simple protein. —

Tori Latham, Robb Report, 17 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'agog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

probably borrowed from Middle French en gogues "in good humor, mirthful," from en "in" + gogues, plural of gogue "good humor, joking, pleasantry, mockery," going back to a Gallo-Romance expressive base *gog-

Note: Though Middle French en gogues is phonetically a plausible source of agog, the semantic link is not entirely clear. English examples from the 16th and 17th centuries are all for set agog, "to excite, stimulate, make eager," though this is not at all the sense of en gogues, and there is no comparable French mettre en gogues in any sense.

First Known Use

Adjective

1664, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adverb

1663, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of agog was in 1663

See more words from the same year