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

The misleading headlines, bias and omissions in the story are stirring up division in our community. —Naperville Sun, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026

Yet at a vital moment of national self-representation, the design’s self-effacing dimensions stirred up far-reaching questions about scale, politics, and monumentality. —Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 16 Apr. 2026

Now, as a parent to two small children myself, Margo’s choice stirred up a lot of feelings for me, especially because this exact narrative — a young, twenty-something woman decides to keep her baby after getting impregnated by a married professor — is also playing out on HBO’s Rooster. —Erin Qualey, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2026

This is also the perfect time to stir up a bowl of burger sauce (a mix of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, and pickle juice). —Li Goldstein, Bon Appetit Magazine, 14 Apr. 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