Meanings
present singular third person stirs up · participle present stirring up · participle past stirred up · past stirred up
- transitiveTo arouse or excite (passion or action, etc.).
What one man can do himself directly is but little. If however he can stir up ten others to take up the task he has accomplished much.
1900 June 1, Wilbur Wright, Letter to Octave Chanute2 more examples
All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood, from some bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag […]
Episode 16These women are experts at flattery, cajolery and sexual excitation, and also possess unusual talents for stirring up quarrels, stimulating jealousies and spreading slander and malicious rumors.
1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 79Synonyms: instigate, provoke, abet, actuate, goose, fuel, light a fire under, send
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo arouse or excite (passion or action, etc.).
More synonyms by meaning
verbarouse or excite feelings and passions
verbchange the arrangement or position of
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Ancient Greek ὀτρῡ́νω, ὄρνῡμι
- ὀτρῡ́νω (otrū́nō)to arouse or excite passion or action
- ὄρνῡμι (órnūmi)to arouse or excite passion or action
Bulgarian възбуждам
- възбуждам (văzbuždam)to arouse or excite passion or action
Catalan estimular, excitar
- estimularto arouse or excite passion or action
- excitarto arouse or excite passion or action
- incitarto arouse or excite passion or action
Chinese Mandarin 激起
- 激起 (jīqǐ)to arouse or excite passion or action
Czech vyburcovat, vyvolat
- vyburcovatto arouse or excite passion or action
- vyvolatto cause (trouble, etc.)
Danish piske op
- piske opto cause (trouble, etc.)
Dutch opstoken
- opstokento cause (trouble, etc.)
Esperanto inciti, bloveksciti
- incitito arouse or excite passion or action
- blovekscitito arouse or excite passion or action
Estonian õhutama
- õhutamato cause (trouble, etc.)
Finnish lietsoa
- lietsoato cause (trouble, etc.)
French stimuler, inciter
- stimulerto arouse or excite passion or action
- inciterto arouse or excite passion or action
- mélangerto mix ingredients
- faire de l'agitationto cause (trouble, etc.)
German entfachen
- entfachento cause (trouble, etc.)
Hungarian felkavar
- felkavarto cause (trouble, etc.)
Icelandic koma af stað, stofna til
- koma af stað, stofna tilto cause (trouble, etc.)
Irish múscail
- múscailto arouse or excite passion or action
Italian stimolare, appassionare
- stimolareto arouse or excite passion or action
- appassionareto arouse or excite passion or action
- convincereto arouse or excite passion or action
- fomentareto cause (trouble, etc.)
- sobillareto cause (trouble, etc.)
- incitareto cause (trouble, etc.)
Latin incitō, percieō
- incitōto arouse or excite passion or action
- percieōto arouse or excite passion or action
- suscitōto arouse or excite passion or action
- suscitōto cause (trouble, etc.)
- turbōto cause (trouble, etc.)
Latvian izraisit, sacelt
- izraisitto cause (trouble, etc.)
- saceltto cause (trouble, etc.)
Lithuanian sukelti, sukurstyti
- sukeltito cause (trouble, etc.)
- sukurstytito cause (trouble, etc.)
Māori whakaranu, tiehu
- whakaranuto mix ingredients
- tiehuto make turbid
Norwegian hisse opp, egge til opprør
- hisse oppto cause (trouble, etc.)
- egge til opprørto cause (trouble, etc.)
Polish wzbudzać, wzbudzić
- wzbudzaćto arouse or excite passion or action
- wzbudzićto arouse or excite passion or action
- stymulowaćto arouse or excite passion or action
- mieszaćto mix ingredients
- zmieszaćto mix ingredients
- zamieszaćto mix ingredients
- pomieszaćto mix ingredients
- wywoływaćto cause (trouble, etc.)
- wywołaćto cause (trouble, etc.)
- wzniecaćto cause (trouble, etc.)
- wzniecićto cause (trouble, etc.)
- podburzaćto cause (trouble, etc.)
Portuguese incitar, misturar
- incitarto arouse or excite passion or action
- misturarto mix ingredients
- fazer agitaçãoto cause (trouble, etc.)
- provocarto cause (trouble, etc.)
Romanian a da nastere la
- a da nastere lato cause (trouble, etc.)
Russian разме́шивать, размеша́ть
- разме́шивать (razméšivatʹ)to mix ingredients
- размеша́ть (razmešátʹ)to mix ingredients
Slovak vyvolat
- vyvolatto cause (trouble, etc.)
Spanish alborotar, concitar
- alborotarto arouse or excite passion or action
- concitarto arouse or excite passion or action
- despertarto arouse or excite passion or action
- incitarto arouse or excite passion or action
- levantar pasionesto arouse or excite passion or action
- soliviantarto arouse or excite passion or action
- suscitarto arouse or excite passion or action
- despertarto cause (trouble, etc.)
- provocarto cause (trouble, etc.)
- excitarto cause (trouble, etc.)
- fomentarto cause (trouble, etc.)
- sacar chaquetato cause (trouble, etc.)
Swahili chochea
- chocheato cause (trouble, etc.)
Swedish ställa till, sätta i gång
- ställa till, sätta i gångto cause (trouble, etc.)
Tamil தூண்டு, கலக்கு
- தூண்டு (tūṇṭu)to arouse or excite passion or action
- கலக்கு (kalakku)to mix ingredients
- மூட்டு (mūṭṭu)to cause (trouble, etc.)
- தூண்டு (tūṇṭu)to cause (trouble, etc.)
Turkish neden olmak
- neden olmakto cause (trouble, etc.)
Cite this entry
stir up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stir%20up
“stir up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stir%20up. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stir up,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stir%20up.
Source: stir up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.