stirred

verb

past tense of stir
1
as in swirled
to cause (as a liquid) to move about in a circle especially repeatedly the recipe says to stir the mixture carefully until it's properly blended

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in shifted
to change one's position the cat stirred, then opened its eyes and slowly got to its feet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in provoked
to rouse to strong feeling or action news coverage of the fire stirred many to send donations to a fund for the families who had lost their homes

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of stirred The dip can also be mixed with tuna or chicken, used as a burger topping or stirred into egg yolks for a quick egg salad. — Beret Leone, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026 The combination of slow growth, high inflation, profligate spending, and soaring debt has stirred a revolt in financial markets. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2026 The students stirred uncomfortably at the clear breach of protocol. — Bob Woodward, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026 But electricity bills have stirred Angelenos’ ire as the extra A/C needed during triple-digit heat waves has landed people in the utility’s higher-cost tiers. — Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026 The news stirred painful memories for Lebanese Jews like Abadie, 65, who was born and raised in Beirut to parents who moved to Lebanon from Syria. — ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026 Earlier this year, Yu Hao, the founder and CEO of leading robot-vacuum-maker Dreame, made headlines and stirred controversy with his goal of building it into the world’s first $100 trillion company. — Derek Rose, Time, 15 Oct. 2026 In the first test, the team stirred polystyrene powder into water containing methyl orange, a yellow dye that ROS break apart. — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 15 Oct. 2026 The first clue came when a yellow dye in water slowly lost its color over 10 days after being stirred with plastic particles. — Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 14 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stirred
  1. swirled
  2. shifted
  3. provoked
  4. washed
  5. moved
  6. encouraged
  7. shook
  8. stimulated
Verb
  • Rumors have swirled about a new album from collaborators who quickly backpedaled on their statements.
    — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Chatter swirled earlier in the week over the rumor that Jay-Z will recommend himself as the headlining performer for the Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show next year, which also takes place at SoFi Stadium.
    — Ashley Iasimone, Billboard, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of swirled
Verb
  • Election forecaster Cook Political Report shifted Ohio’s gubernatorial race toward Democratic candidate Amy Acton on Friday after a week of backlash over an ad Republican Vivek Ramaswamy ran featuring her estranged mother.
    — Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The risk shifted to Utah's southeast, where streams ran fast and high.
    — MEAD GRUVER, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of shifted
Verb
  • North Korea denied responsibility for the explosions and warned of strong retaliation if provoked.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • French’s post provoked social media responses calling for violence against Indians and desecrating Hindu temples.
    — Arun Brahmbhatt, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of provoked
Verb
  • Items such as the coffee pots, dispensing nozzles for cappuccino and frazil machines must be washed and sanitized as needed.
    — NWA Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026
  • This is a cold washed process bean, meaning the cherry pulp is washed away from the bean before it’s put in cold storage for 72 hours and then dried.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of washed
Verb
  • Deloitte found only 25% of organizations have moved 40% or more of their AI pilots into production.
    — Chris Koehler, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Trees fell onto homes and utility poles were knocked down by a possible tornado in a central Arizona community during a series of violent storms that moved through the state overnight into Thursday.
    — Wufei Yu, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of moved
Verb
  • Alison Linder, assistant sustainability coordinator at Occidental College, which has a thrift store of its own with Halloween costumes in stock, encouraged people to organize their own swaps with neighbors, friends or school classmates.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
  • But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly dismissed previous caution of AI tools and encouraged rapid autonomous innovation at the Pentagon.
    — Chiara Eisner, NPR, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of encouraged
Verb
  • The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fought its way into the green Tuesday, as influential AI stocks like CoreWeave shook off earlier losses.
    — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The pope then walked outside greeted and waved at the crowd and shook hands of hospital staff lined up by car to see him off.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of shook
Verb
  • The move stimulated the private sector and accelerated the deployment of EV infrastructure, Vesser said.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Issagholyan built out a 24-session plan to course-correct, involving twice weekly visits in which I would be chiropractically adjusted, my jaw cold-lasered to promote cellular regeneration and my back muscles stimulated by electrodes.
    — Alessandra Codinha, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of stimulated

Browse Nearby Words

stir
stirred
stirred (up)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stirred.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stirred. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of disparate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All