agitate

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English, from Latin agitatus, past participle of agitare (“to put in motion”), from agere (“to move”). Compare with French agiter. See act, agent.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

agitate (third-person singular simple present agitates, present participle agitating, simple past and past participle agitated)

  1. (transitive) To disturb or excite; to perturb or stir up (a person). [from 16th c.]
    He was greatly agitated by the news.
  2. (transitive) To cause to move with a violent, irregular action; to shake. [from 16th c.]
    the wind agitates the sea
    to agitate water in a vessel
    • 1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford:
      It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To set in motion; to actuate. [16th–18th c.]
  4. (transitive, now rare) To discuss or debate. [from 16th c.]
  5. (transitive, now rare) To revolve in the mind, or view in all its aspects; to consider, to devise. [from 17th c.]
    politicians agitate desperate designs

Synonyms[edit]

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Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading[edit]

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “agitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Esperanto[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

agitate

  1. present adverbial passive participle of agiti

Ido[edit]

Verb[edit]

agitate

  1. adverbial present passive participle of agitar

Italian[edit]

Adjective[edit]

agitate f

  1. feminine plural of agitato

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

agitāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of agitō

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English, from Latin agitatus. Cognate with English agitate.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

agitate (third-person singular simple present agitates, present participle agitatin, simple past agitatit, past participle agitate)

  1. to agitate

References[edit]

  • “agitate” in Eagle, Andy, editor, The Online Scots Dictionary[2], 2016.

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

agitate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of agitar combined with te
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