agitate
Other forms: agitated; agitating; agitates
Agitate means to stir up. If you watch a horror movie at bedtime, you may be too agitated to sleep. Movies like that can agitate all sorts of adrenaline responses in the body.
Agitate derives from a Latin word that means "to drive away." The meaning has changed, but you can see where old meets new—a washing machine agitates dirty clothes in warm soapy water to drive away the dirt. You agitate or shake up salad dressing to mix it, driving the oil away into the vinegar.
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move or cause to move back and forthsynonyms: shaketypes:fanagitate the airtremblemove or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sidewayspalpitatecause to throb or beat rapidlyconvulseshake uncontrollablyspargeagitate by introducing air or compressed gasconcussshake violentlyrattleshake and cause to make a rattling noiseconvulse, jactitate, slash, thrash, thrash about, thresh, thresh about, tossmove or stir about violentlywinnowblow onwhipthrash about flexibly in the manner of a whiplashtype of:movemove so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
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change the arrangement or position of
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move very slightly
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cause to be agitated, excited, or roused
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exert oneself continuously, vigorously, or obtrusively to gain an end or engage in a crusade for a certain cause or person; be an advocate for
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try to stir up (e.g., public opinion)
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Vocabulary lists containing agitate
Context is king — that’s the lesson you need to internalize as you begin preparing for the vocabulary questions on the SAT. We have identified this pool of 200 words that cut across the disciplines and lend themselves well to context-dependent interpretation. As you learn this list on Vocabulary.com, you will have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in particular sentences. This is the same type of thinking you will need to develop in order to succeed on the SAT! Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
Context is king -- that’s the lesson you need to internalize as you begin preparing for the vocabulary questions on the new SAT. We have identified this pool of 200 words that cut across the disciplines and lend themselves well to context-dependent interpretation. As you learn this list on Vocabulary.com, you will have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in particular sentences. This is the same type of thinking you will need to develop in order to succeed on the new SAT! Here are all of our word lists to help you prepare for the new SAT (debuting March of 2016): The Language of the Test, Multiple-Meaning Words, and Words to Capture Tone.
On the ACT Reading Test, you'll encounter questions that ask you to determine the meanings of common words in context. We've identified 200 high-frequency, multiple-meaning words of the sort that you'll see on the exam. As you practice this list, you'll have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in a particular sentence. Be careful! Several of a word's meanings might show up as answer choices — but only one answer will capture the meaning of the word in the context of the sentence.