as in provokes
to bring something (volatile or intense) into being
couldn't stir up any interest in a Saturday morning outing to the art museum
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stirs (up)
Verb
-
His jealousy provokes an act of betrayal and cruelty.
-
Such a statistic often provokes a familiar gamut of responses from those who read it, from shock, disgust and anger to a debilitating sense of helplessness.
Verb
-
The extreme heat has been supercharged by global warming, driven by humans burning fossil fuels, which raises the background temperature, making every heat wave more intense.
-
Before Crowley was ousted, the city’s top financial analyst pushed back on her budget-cutting narrative, saying that spending on the Fire Department actually went up during that budget year — in large part because of a package of firefighter raises.
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.
Cite this Entry
“Stirs (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stirs%20%28up%29. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
