as in rebel
a person who stirs up public feelings especially of discontent
a political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the government
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Recent Examples of agitator
Load the down coat into a front-load washer or a high-efficiency top-load washer without a center agitator for gentle agitation.
—
Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 14 Jan. 2026
Maybe then Musk would really focus on building rockets, instead of spending so much of his time being a racist agitator online.
—Noah Shachtman, Wired News, 13 Jan. 2026
So according to our president, Renee Nicole Good, who was killed protesting the heavy-handed tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, was a professional agitator.
—Chicago Tribune, 12 Jan. 2026
Signed for one more season at $1.45 million, the high-speed agitator with skill would be a good depth pickup.
—Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for agitator
Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 14 Jan. 2026
Maybe then Musk would really focus on building rockets, instead of spending so much of his time being a racist agitator online.
—Noah Shachtman, Wired News, 13 Jan. 2026
So according to our president, Renee Nicole Good, who was killed protesting the heavy-handed tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, was a professional agitator.
—Chicago Tribune, 12 Jan. 2026
Signed for one more season at $1.45 million, the high-speed agitator with skill would be a good depth pickup.
—Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for agitator
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agitator
Noun
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Annabeth and Grover tell Percy that Chiron has returned, Luke has vanished, and the monsters and rebels have been driven away from the camp.—
Monica Mercuri,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
-
Dylan The ultimate high school rebel with a heart of gold.—
Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal,
Parents,
19 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Inzunza Noriega, who appeared in a wheelchair, said little at the hearing but exchanged hand signals of encouragement with two supporters as he was wheeled out of the courtroom.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
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If feedback arrives, filter it for usefulness and keep moving, because your authentic tone attracts supporters who appreciate your vision.—
Tarot.com,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Where is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Zohran Mamdani and the rest of the radical fringe left who take every opportunity to demagogue and slander Israel, and yet not one word about Iran?—
Bobby Zirkin,
Baltimore Sun,
8 Jan. 2026
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In turn, the erosion of trust has weakened the social contract that sustains representative government, leaving democracies more vulnerable to populist demagogues, institutional paralysis, and the gradual normalization of authoritarian alternatives.—
NIC CHEESEMAN,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Trump’s proposal echoes a long-standing push by progressive Democrats and a few conservative firebrands on Capitol Hill to implement credit card interest rate caps, which would limit the fee a card issuer can charge consumers who carry a balance past their due date.—
Sudiksha Kochi,
The Hill,
15 Jan. 2026
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While Collier and Stewart have accepted the duty to be labor firebrands, one of their UConn teammates, Morgan Tuck, is making her mark on the management side, as the youngest GM in the WNBA.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Thornton, a longtime Eagle resident who co-founded The Big Easy in 2000 — now called the Knitting Factory Concert House in downtown Boise — is the president of promoter Live Nation’s mountain region.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
22 Jan. 2026
-
And King was the most prominent promoter of this approach.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
Noun
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But proponents of the industry claim that the environmental costs still net out as a plus since the space data centers take processing off the fossil-fuel-burning grid.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
7 Jan. 2026
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One of the biggest proponents of the capri resurgence, the supermodel has been making a stylish case for cropped pants since last summer—and her latest iteration takes the divisive Noughties silhouette into Italian girl style territory.—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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At worst, the government has invited in a provocateur who will continue to spread poison and incite violence.—
Helen Lewis,
The Atlantic,
30 Dec. 2025
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This same climate, however, allowed for vicious attacks on a provocateur from their side who had just been killed in cold blood.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
21 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Even that 2016 victory didn’t last long — Assad was unceremoniously forced out of the country by insurgents in 2024, settling in Moscow for a quiet life in exile.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Jan. 2026
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In the eighties, Petro was a member of the M-19, urban insurgents who caught the world’s attention by taking the American Ambassador and more than a dozen other foreign diplomats hostage for two months.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
15 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Agitator.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agitator. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
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