What does agitate mean?
Agitate is a versatile verb with three main strands of meaning. Most commonly it describes making someone anxious, upset, or emotionally stirred — a person may become agitated by bad news, long delays, or confrontation. In public life, to agitate means to campaign energetically and persistently for a cause, as when reformers agitate for voting rights or workers agitate against unfair conditions; this sense carries connotations of activism and sometimes unrest. Finally, agitate has a literal physical meaning: to shake or stir a liquid or substance briskly, as in chemistry or cooking. The word derives from the Latin agitare, meaning 'to drive or set in motion', which explains why it spans both emotional turbulence and physical movement. Its derivatives — agitated, agitation, agitator — are all common in modern English, and the adjective agitated is a standard way to describe visible anxiety.
verbTo agitate is to make someone feel anxious, troubled, or irritated, or to argue forcefully in public in order to bring about political or social change. It can also mean to shake or stir something physically.
- To make someone anxious, troubled, or angry.
- To campaign vigorously or argue publicly for political or social change.
- To shake or stir a liquid or substance briskly.
"The proposed closure of the local hospital agitated the entire community."
"She grew visibly agitated as the meeting dragged on past its scheduled end."
"Reformers agitated for decades before the vote was finally extended to all citizens."
"Dissolve the powder in warm water, agitating gently until it fully dissolves."
The same word that describes a washing machine's spinning drum also describes revolutionaries stirring up a crowd — and both senses come from the Latin for 'to drive'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of agitate
Agitate comes from the Latin verb agitare, a frequentative form of agere ('to drive, do, act'), meaning 'to drive about, move back and forth'. English borrowed it in the late sixteenth century, first in the literal sense of shaking or moving something, with the emotional sense of troubling the mind developing shortly afterwards. It shares the root agere with words such as agile, cogent, and agent, all of which involve driving or setting something in motion.
Related word forms
How agitate is actually used
Agitate is slightly formal in everyday use; 'agitated' as an adjective is common in describing visible anxiety. The campaigning sense often appears with the prepositions 'for' or 'against'.
Easily confused with agitate
Irritate means to annoy or inflame (a person or body part), while agitate means to make someone anxious or to stir up support or a liquid.