agitate

Cheaper Mexican workers had been welcomed during World War I, and were still coming north more casually back then, even as a U.S. labor group was beginning to agitate for organizing American migrant farm workers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

They are notorious goons, despised virtually everywhere for their ability to agitate, aggrieve and annoy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

Lai previously told visitors there would be "no surprises" in his national day address, in a bid to reassure them that he would not do anything further to agitate Beijing.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2024

It appeared to agitate Cannon, who questioned the prosecution about why it was being brought up for the first time at the hearing.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2023

“We are serving tea, sir, though calling it chocolate so as not to agitate the sensibilities of Patriots.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

And this is kind of a shame, because the story agitates the brain far more than it does the stomach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

Conversely, when researchers injected the rats with a substance that agitates the immune system, the inflammatory cytokine levels rapidly shot up.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024

Tinseltown, it seems, is in the midst of an AI boom — even as its creative class agitates for limits on how that technology gets deployed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023

This clear tank agitates a gallon of water at a gentle 18 revolutions per minute for 30 minutes.

From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2019

“The sight of a wound or scar always agitates and sickens me,” she said.

From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin

The assailant still appears agitated, and the teacher, an older man, continues to stand between the two and shouts “stop” and “calm down” at the agitated student.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

We have agitated for paid parental leave, universal childcare, better public schools, child allowances, and other help for struggling parents.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

Countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim sang Alessandro with a hooded quality and too much vibrato; he sounded messy, especially in the big register jumps of his agitated Act 2 aria.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

They know their cognition will continue to fade, and they might live for years in an agitated, delusional state where they’ll need round-the-clock care from people they don’t recognize.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

We thought we were saving time; instead we revved up the treadmill of life to ten times its former speed and made our days more anxious and agitated.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

“We do not know the answer, but we have seen them take this approach in other situations when agitating for change,” Moskow said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

Landlocked Ethiopia, home to around 130 million people and one of Africa’s strongest economies, has been agitating for sea access.

From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026

The dollar rallied, even though Warsh has been agitating for more rate cuts, which tend to undermine the dollar’s value.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026

The activists’ arrival, and CEO candidate, comes as Lululemon founder Chip Wilson had already been agitating for change and weighing in on the CEO search.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

With the absence of so many people, the town became scary, the night darker, and the silence unbearably agitating.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah