agitate

It might seem strange to look this deeply into the why of Matt Damon as Odysseus, since his casting didn’t agitate right-wing trolls.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

Jackson continued to travel, agitate, protest, but the spotlight had moved on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 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

“Are you two figuring you’re going to agitate? Resist?”

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

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

At a couple of bars, I’ve even encountered a machine that holds two shakers and agitates them for minutes on end.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2019

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

From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin

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

Hundreds of people crammed into the school gym that April evening, and the debate over Point Reyes agitated into a low boil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 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

Algal spores may have turned the water green in places across Northern Ireland, but strong winds and heavy rain have kept surfaces too agitated for the formation of the very large-scale mats we've seen before.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Henry didn’t say anything, and I’m sure that at that moment he would have looked perfectly impassive to anyone who didn’t know him, but I could tell he was quite agitated.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

“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

As I resettled into the life I had so missed, I at first tried to avoid the agitating, distracting and intrusive pull of my phone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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

Buck Turgidson, one of the film’s most memorable characters, while agitating the president in the war room for a first strike against the Soviet Union.

From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026

Her scalp tingled, as if the thoughts in her brain were agitating to get out: a statue...Athena...Greek and Roman, her nightmares, and her argument with her mom.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan