as in to provoke
to bring something (volatile or intense) into being
couldn't stir up any interest in a Saturday morning outing to the art museum
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stir (up)
Verb
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But Felder also feared that the attack would provoke unprecedented violence against Palestinians, and believed that being Jewish required adhering to certain moral precepts.—
Eyal Press,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026 -
Analysts have warned such a move could provoke wider retaliation and further destabilize shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply passes.—
Steve Mollman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The school also received a Rotary Club grant, and its PTA also raised a significant amount of money.—
Molly McCrea,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
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But the arc — first raising expectations for a big reveal, then declaring there was nothing to see, and ultimately a forced, flawed document dump — was a stubbornly problematic storyline that ran through her time as attorney general.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Stir (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stir%20%28up%29. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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