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 disturb the quiet of : agitate

a bear stirring up the bees

4

: 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

Furthermore, using standard drones introduces downwash from the propellers, which stirs up and dilutes the gas plumes required for measurement. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 13 July 2026

If anything, the debate proved that the 60-year-old band could still stir up controversy. — René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 July 2026

It was originally not called a foul, and a still image of Thomas’ hand in Clark’s throat went viral on social media and stirred up discourse among those in and out of the basketball world. — Marisa Ingemi, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026

So far, no mainstream Democratic politician has seemed willing to stir up the hornet’s nest by taking on the progressive brigades. — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for stir up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup