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AGITATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of agitating something; causing it to move around (usually vigorously)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("agitation" is a kind of...):
motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agitation"):
shaking (the act of causing something to move up and down (or back and forth) with quick movements)
stirring (agitating a liquid with an implement)
shake; wag; waggle (causing to move repeatedly from side to side)
worrying (the act of moving something by repeated tugs or pushes)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Disturbance usually in protest
Synonyms:
agitation; excitement; hullabaloo; turmoil; upheaval
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("agitation" is a kind of...):
disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The feeling of being agitated; not calm
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("agitation" is a kind of...):
feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agitation"):
unrest (a feeling of restless agitation)
fidget; fidgetiness; restlessness (a feeling of agitation expressed in continual motion)
stewing (an extreme state of worry and agitation)
stir (emotional agitation and excitement)
tumult; turmoil (violent agitation)
Antonym:
calmness (a feeling of calm; an absence of agitation or excitement)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A state of agitation or turbulent change or development
Example:
social unrest
Synonyms:
agitation; ferment; fermentation; tempestuousness; unrest
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("agitation" is a kind of...):
Sturm und Drang; turbulence; upheaval (a state of violent disturbance and disorder (as in politics or social conditions generally))
Sense 5
Meaning:
A mental state of extreme emotional disturbance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("agitation" is a kind of...):
mental condition; mental state; psychological condition; psychological state ((psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agitation"):
disturbance; perturbation; upset (an unhappy and worried mental state)
fret; lather; stew; sweat; swither (agitation resulting from active worry)
dither; flap; fuss; pother; tizzy (an excited state of agitation)
tailspin (loss of emotional control often resulting in emotional collapse)
Context examples:
A feeling of freedom from agitation or excitement.
(Calm, NCI Thesaurus)
A usually reversible condition characterized by the acute and sudden development of confusion, illusions, movement changes, inattentiveness, agitation, and hallucinations.
(Delirium, NCI Thesaurus)
How absurd to be resuming the agitation which such an interval had banished into distance and indistinctness!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
I heard voices, too, speaking with a hollow sound, and as if muffled by a rush of wind or water: agitation, uncertainty, and an all-predominating sense of terror confused my faculties.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He sprang from his chair and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long thin hands.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was filled with agitation, however, when I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
More than once the agitation into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous relapse.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
His complexion was white with agitation, and he looked as if fearful of his reception, and conscious that he merited no kind one.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
This topic was discussed very happily, and others succeeded of similar moment, and passed away with similar harmony; but the evening did not close without a little return of agitation.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
All his own fights put together had never reduced the pugilist to such a state of agitation.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
