Word.ws English Dictionary

agitant

agitant noun: a person who agitates. Also the obsolete spelling of adjutant.

Noun

agitant (plural agitants)

  1. A person who agitates.
    • Now am I ready for any Plot; I’ll go find some of these Agitants, and fill up a blank Commission with my Name.1665, Robert Howard, The Committee, Act III, Scene 1, in Five New Plays, London: Henry Herringman, 1692 p. 77
    • Garofalo and Ferri were the foremost agitants for victim compensation in the nineteenth century.1972, LeRoy G. Schultz, “A Compensation Policy for Sex Victims”, in Harvey L. Gochros, LeRoy G. Schultz, editors, Human Sexuality and Social Work, New York: Association Press, page 335
    Synonyms:
    agitator
  2. A thing that agitates.
    • If melancholy humours most abound,
      The dreams distractive, and the sleep unsound,
      And Hypochondriac megrims start and twitch,
      Black spirits rise, and temptingly bewitch,
      Ten drops of poppy nectar, freshly pressed,
      Will lay the peccant agitants at rest.1833, Nathan Hale, “The Tavern Doctor”, in Notes Made during an Excursion to the Highlands of New Hampshire and Lake Winnipiseogee, Andover, MA, page 175
    • […] the enormous effect of the insurrection on the government—the hasty executions, the deportations, the inpouring of troops into Ireland and the establishment of military tribunals—convinced Ireland that insurrection was a powerful agitant, and this greatly invigorated the national will.1918, Francis Hackett, chapter 14, in Ireland: A Study in Nationalism, New York: Huebsch, page 376

Adjective

agitant (comparative more agitant, superlative most agitant)

  1. That agitates.
    • […] at her white bosom is that patch incarnadine—the red, red rose. Agitant and tremulous it has burst open, and its pure heart lies bare.1893, H. B. Marriott Watson, “The Rose of the Morning”, in Diogenes of London and Other Fantasies and Sketches, London: Methuen, pages 225–226
    • The slow rhythm of her song grew agitant and restless.1923, Jean Toomer, “Blood-Burning Moon”, in Cane, New York: Liveright, published 1993, page 28
    Synonyms:
    agitating

Also used as

agitant is also the obsolete spelling of adjutant.

Examples of agitant in a sentence

  • If it were up to those two, he said, all political agitants would be locked up in jail.2008, Helene Cooper, The House at Sugar Beach, New York: Simon & Schuster, Part 1, Chapter 11, p. 137:
  • Metabolic agitants, such as caffeine and coca2009, Luanne Freer, Peter H. Hackett, “High-Altitude Medicine”, in Gregory H. Bledsoe et al., editors, Expedition and Wilderness Medicine...

Synonyms of agitant

Forms of agitant

Noun
pluralagitants
Adjective
comparativemore agitant
superlativemost agitant

Origin of agitant

From Latin agitāns, present participle of agitō (“to shake, brandish, agitate”); equivalent to agitate + -ant.

Questions about agitant

What does agitant mean?
Agitant means a person who agitates.
How do you use agitant in a sentence?
If it were up to those two, he said, all political agitants would be locked up in jail.
What part of speech is agitant?
Agitant can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of agitant?
The plural of agitant is agitants.

Words near agitant in the dictionary

  1. agit-propped
  2. agit-propping
  3. agit-props
  4. agita
  5. agitable
  6. agitant
  7. agitants
  8. agitatable
  9. agitate
  10. agitate the communicator
  11. agitated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: agitant (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “agitant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/agitant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.