Agitation

How to spell agitation

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce agitation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does agitation mean?

1. nounA state of nervous anxiety, or the act of stirring something up physically or socially.

Agitation in a sentence

• His growing agitation was obvious as the deadline approached.

• The protest reflected years of public agitation over rising fares.

Where does agitation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin agitatio, a noun of action meaning 'a setting in motion' or 'a stirring up'. It was built on the verb agitare, which literally meant 'to drive', 'to set in rapid motion', or 'to keep moving', itself a frequentative of agere 'to drive, do, act'. English took the word in through Old French agitation in the late 1400s, at first describing physical shaking or restless movement. Over the following centuries it broadened to cover both the mental sense of nervous unease and the political sense of stirring people up to campaign for a cause, which is why a campaigner can be called an agitator. The same agere root quietly sits inside a crowd of common words such as 'act', 'agent', and 'agenda', and noticing that single -t- in agit- helps keep the spelling steady.

How the word is built

• agit- (from Latin agitare: to set in motion, drive)
• -ation (noun of action/state)