stir up

verb

stirred up; stirring up; stirs up

transitive verb

1

: to cause (someone) to feel a strong emotion and a desire to do something

The speech stirred up the crowd.

2

: to cause (something) to move up into and through the air or water

The workers stirred up a lot of dust.

3

: to cause (something, usually something bad or unpleasant) to happen

They're trying to stir up trouble.

But, of course, there's a reason politicians generally try to communicate deliberately: It helps them avoid saying things that might offend voters or stir up controversy.

—Philip Bump

I'm not a rebel, trying to stir things up just to be provocative.

—Norma Klein

… the incident stirred up a hornet's nest of protest and indignation.

—Robert T. Martinott

Examples of stir up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The players took to the NFL stage to greet fans, stir up support and make their mark ahead of the game. —Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025

This is followed by a disruptive square between Mercury and rebellious Uranus on Feb. 10, stirring up unexpected communication or an abrupt change of plans — prepare for shocking revelations and surprising twists. —Valerie Mesa, People.com, 5 Feb. 2025

MicroStrategy’s eye-popping gains have stirred up a swarm of critics and short sellers unable to fathom how a tiny software company holding only $48 billion in actual bitcoin could have a market capitalization of $84 billion. —Nina Bambysheva, Forbes, 30 Jan. 2025

People are either very for or against it, and it's stirred up discourse around other films as well. —Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for stir up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup