How to use roil in a sentence

24 example sentences · verb

Roil means to render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of. Example: “The reformation disempowered the established church and thus roiled the aristocracy.”

Examples of roil by meaning

verbTo render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of.

to roil wine, cider, etc, in casks or bottles
to roil a spring
dust storms roiling the skies

verbTo bubble, seethe.

By noon, Brian's stomach had begun to roil and knot.1991, Stephen King, Needful Things
Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
Last week, the archive grew by two, and now the nation’s roiling.2020 June 3, Wesley Morris, “The Videos That Rocked America. The Song That Knows Our Rage.”, in New York Times

verbTo romp or tumble.

The finale was a romp in which the entire troupe burst out of the bouldering cave and roiled along the walls.1991, Climbing - Issues 127-129, page 34
As artists they were exploratory; in Rose Colored Dance they performed in playful embrace, smelled each other's feet, and roiled in mischief, rolling on top of each other.2017, Sondra Fraleigh, Tamah Nakamura, Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo
He peeled children off the floor when they roiled in frustration and plucked cats from the furniture.2019, Vita Murrow, High-Five to the Hero, page 78

More sentences with roil

The reformation disempowered the established church and thus roiled the aristocracy.From the entry disempower
A roiling flutter within had me harden my gaze at the man I swore to seek revenge on.From the entry flutter
I wish I hadn't resisted the magnetic pull of teenageness into that roiling heart of communal feeling.2019, Sam George-Allen, Witches, page 14. From the entry teenageness
Any thoughtful comments are typically lost in a roiling sea of “LOLs,” insults and spam.2013 September 24, Heather Kelly, “YouTube tries to fix its comments”, in CNN. From the entry lol
There’s the mesmeric, thrumming beat. (Sound very much “on” for this one.) Dark purples and roiling seas under heavy storms.2023 March 18, Sam Anderson, “Weekend Warm-Up: Liquid Lines, Entrancing Tunes, Mesmerizing Moments in ‘MALIA’”, in Explorersweb. From the entry curler
Maybe the most remarkable early piece is an image of a bulgingly muscular Superman painted in a roiling Expressionist style.2009 January 7, Ken Johnson, “It Is What It Is: Portraits of the Human Figure”, in New York Times. From the entry bulgingly
Bracketed by two roiling group passages, smaller dances slink by, marked by much creaturely creeping and carnivorous eroticism.2007 March 5, Claudia La Rocco, “Infernal Shades, Apparitions at Dusk, Spirits Who Tango”, in New York Times. From the entry creaturely
Standout “Hidden Knives” is the kind of new wave-leaning punk gem John Hughes would’ve loved, while “So Beneath You” is a teeth-baring, roiling tune.2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The Onion AV Club. From the entry gem
Professor Reitano reexamines an issue that roiled the political and intellectual waters of the Gilded Age in ways difficult to conceive today.2010, Joanne Reitano, Tariff Question in the Gilded Age: The Great Debate Of 1888, page ix. From the entry Gilded Age
I was a little disappointed to have lost the light, for I'd pictured the springs as bubbling, roiling, geysery things, clear-pure and alive.2009, Steve Hockensmith, The Crack in the Lens, page 144. From the entry geysery
In a province with a long and dangerous maritime history, the Baltic's grounding in the roiling shallows of Cedar Cove last February is a story Newfoundlanders retell with incredulity.2025 December 29, Lindsay Jones, “A Newfoundland winter brings new risks to Coast Guard's biggest-ever operation. Crews at mercy of the…. From the entry container
In five tightly cropped close-ups, terra firma appears to be roiling, more like the surface of a stormy sea than anything you’d want to build a house on.2019 December 4, David Pagel, “Review: A photographer’s portraits of Iceland, in all of its epic, impossible beauty”, in Los Angeles…. From the entry red-blooded
Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates was put to work on the latrine-wagon – ladling liquid, roiling oomska from latrines shared by a thousand people a day.2011 March 5, Caitlin Moran, “I'm so tired by TV journeys”, in The Times. From the entry oomska
"The Moor's Last Sigh" -- a narratively manic, verbally hyperenergetic, comical, fantastical, roiling multicultural mulch of a novel of India -- would also have been a commendable winner.1995 November 26, Eva Hoffman, “The Super Bowl of Fiction”, in New York Times. From the entry hyperenergetic
He may roil your mind with his collusions but I will elaqueate your dulciferous egoity when your heart dehisces to the epiphoras which house no elench.1911, James Ira Deese Miller, A Guide Into the South, volume I, Atlanta: Index Printing Company, page 35. From the entry dulciferous

Meaning of roil

verb To render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of.
verb To annoy; to make angry; to throw into discord.
verb To bubble, seethe.

Full definition of roil

Questions about roil in a sentence

How do you use roil in a sentence?: Roil is used as a verb. For example: “The reformation disempowered the established church and thus roiled the aristocracy.”
What is a short sentence with roil?: “to roil a spring”
What does roil mean?: Roil means to render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of.

Adapted from Wiktionary: roil (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use roil in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/roil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.