# agitate
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English agitat(e) (“set in motion”), borrowed from Latin agitātus, perfect passive participle of agitō (“to put in motion”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), frequentative of agō (“to drive, move, push”), see -tō. Cognate with French agiter. See also act and agent.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA: /ˈæ.d͡ʒɪ.teɪt/
* Audio (UK):(file)

### Verb

agitate (third-person singular simple present agitates, present participle agitating, simple past and past participle agitated)
* (transitive) To disturb or excite; to perturb or stir up (a person). [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: disturb, unsettle; see also Thesaurus:upset
    Antonyms: appease, calm, quieten
    He was greatly agitated by the news.
* (transitive) To cause to move with a violent, irregular action; to shake. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: move, muddle, roil, shake
    to agitate water in a vessel
    The wind agitates the sea.
** 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.
* To participate in political agitation (sense 3).
** 1981 August 1, Mitzel, “NAMBLA Says National Crackdown Starting”, in Gay Community News, page 3:NAMBLA is working to build a coalition of gay, lesbian, progressive and civil liberties groups to agitate against the increasing state attacks on gay men who associate with boys.
* (transitive, obsolete) To set in motion; to actuate. [16th–18th c.]
    Synonyms: activate, animate, excite, trigger, rouse, set off
* (transitive, now rare) To discuss or debate. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: discuss, debate, canvass
** 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men‎:Your speech at the time a bill for the regency was agitated now lies before me.
* (transitive, now rare) To mull over, or think deeply about; to consider, to devise. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: revolve, ruminate; see also Thesaurus:ponder
    Politicians agitate desperate designs.

#### Derived terms

* agitate the communicator
* circumagitate
* counteragitate
* overagitate
* reagitate

#### Related terms

* agitation
* agitant
* agitator
* agitatrix
* agitatee
* agitable
* inagitable
* agitational
* agitative
* agitatory

#### Translations

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

#### Further reading

* “agitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “agitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “agitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

## Esperanto
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adverb

agitate
* present adverbial passive participle of agiti

## Ido
### Verb

agitate
* adverbial present passive participle of agitar

## Italian
### Adjective

agitate f
* feminine plural of agitato

### Anagrams

* gattaie

## Latin
### Verb

agitāte
* second-person plural present active imperative of agitō

## Scots
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /əˈdʒɪtet/

### Verb

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

### References

* Eagle, Andy, editor (2025), “agitate”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎

## Spanish
### Verb

agitate
* second-person singular voseo imperative of agitar combined with te