1
as in swirling
to be in a state of violent rolling motion
the waters of the gulf tossed and roiled as the hurricane surged toward the shore
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in angering
to make angry
the clerk's brusque refusal of her request roiled her enough to prompt a complaint to his supervisor
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of roiling
At the start of the Global Fashion Summit, Federica Marchionni, CEO of Global Fashion Agenda, offered one of the event’s few hints of the geopolitical turmoil roiling the outside world.
—
Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 15 May 2026
The issue of antisemitism is also roiling the Green Party, which has passed Labour in the polls, but is now facing numerous scandals involving its candidates posting antisemitic content.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
Nonetheless, Munden added his own visual flair, with color saturation, distorted close-ups to show the characters’ disorientation, and mesmerizing shots of nature writ large (raging fires, roiling ocean waves, torrential storms) and small (ants devouring a bug).
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2026
At the time, the boy was the youngest person to be fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in years, with the shooting roiling the city, leading to protests, calls for reform and eventually policy changes around when and how police can chase people.
—Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2026
Choreographer Amy Campbell has created a consistent kinetic style that becomes as important as the roiling rock score in keeping this show on track.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 3 May 2026
House Republicans are fracturing over a bipartisan immigration plan, a feud that serves as a microcosm of the broader battle roiling the party ahead of the midterms.
—Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 22 Apr. 2026
But after the price of oil surged with the advent of the Iran war, roiling expectations for inflation, the markets began pricing those cuts out, with some investors even bracing for the possibility of rate hikes this year.
—Hugh Son, CNBC, 15 Apr. 2026
And with recent geopolitical events like the war in Iran roiling markets, investing feels more precarious than ever.
—Jessica Bryant, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 15 May 2026
The issue of antisemitism is also roiling the Green Party, which has passed Labour in the polls, but is now facing numerous scandals involving its candidates posting antisemitic content.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
Nonetheless, Munden added his own visual flair, with color saturation, distorted close-ups to show the characters’ disorientation, and mesmerizing shots of nature writ large (raging fires, roiling ocean waves, torrential storms) and small (ants devouring a bug).
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2026
At the time, the boy was the youngest person to be fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in years, with the shooting roiling the city, leading to protests, calls for reform and eventually policy changes around when and how police can chase people.
—Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2026
Choreographer Amy Campbell has created a consistent kinetic style that becomes as important as the roiling rock score in keeping this show on track.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 3 May 2026
House Republicans are fracturing over a bipartisan immigration plan, a feud that serves as a microcosm of the broader battle roiling the party ahead of the midterms.
—Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 22 Apr. 2026
But after the price of oil surged with the advent of the Iran war, roiling expectations for inflation, the markets began pricing those cuts out, with some investors even bracing for the possibility of rate hikes this year.
—Hugh Son, CNBC, 15 Apr. 2026
And with recent geopolitical events like the war in Iran roiling markets, investing feels more precarious than ever.
—Jessica Bryant, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roiling
Verb
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The dark matter By looking at how the emission lines in the spectrum were broadened by the Doppler effect, Nakajima and his colleagues measured that the gas is swirling around inside the galaxy at roughly 58 kilometers per second, a rather typical value for dwarf galaxies.—
Jacek Krywko,
ArsTechnica,
13 May 2026
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Media reports are swirling that L’Oréal is in discussions to acquire a majority stake in Innovist, an Indian personal care company that includes brands such as Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play and Sunscoop in its portfolio.—
Kathryn Hopkins,
Footwear News,
13 May 2026
Verb
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The economic cost of the war is now palpable – with cell-phone data outages that regularly blight major cities angering even the pro-Putin bourgeoisie – adding to a sense of the war beginning to hit the urban elite, who until now were mostly isolated from the invasion’s impact.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
4 May 2026
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Starmer’s comments risk angering many within his party, who will take issue with his linking of antisemitism with pro-Palestinian activism.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
2 May 2026
Verb
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And, in the aftermath of a stomach-churning stick-up that twisted my guts with the queasy horror of a repressed memory, Gary is given a week to make the problem go away.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
16 May 2026
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Around a spinning black hole, rotational energy would be transferred to light scalar dark matter, amplifying its density, almost like a paddle churning cream into butter.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
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One of the most consistently infuriating elements of Yellowstone was how Sheridan kept positioning the Duttons — a family of land barons with immense political power and a penchant for murder — as righteous underdogs.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
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In addition to infuriating those crusty Canadian fans who hate these new-fangled markets — and to be clear, that’s also a selling point — this matchup would feature each side trying to put the ghosts of past failure to rest.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
Verb
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Process in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.—
Kelly Brant,
Arkansas Online,
12 May 2026
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Start by boiling a pot of hot water on your stove and pouring it slowly down your drain to loosen up the hair, food, or other debris.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
8 May 2026
Verb
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Each one is enraging and undermines public confidence in the SAFE-T Act.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
1 May 2026
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The culmination of the story is Michael revealing on stage that this would be the Jacksons' last show together, enraging his father Joe Jackson (Colman Domingo).—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Was Tom seething on the inside?—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
12 May 2026
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Her Catherine is less defined by the quirky, appealing eccentricities of Mary-Louise Parker’s performance in the original 2000 Broadway staging, but is girded by a certain angry resignation, fearful of what life might have in store, furious too, yet seething with a will to defy it all.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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On Day 1 of the truce, and in the days since, Israel has stepped up attacks against Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, in Lebanon, outraging Iran and leading to accusations the terms had been breached.—
Justin Fishel,
ABC News,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Roiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roiling. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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