different between agitate vs torment

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin agitatus, past participle of agitare (“to put in motion”), from agere (“to move”). Compare with French agiter. See act, agent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?æ.d??.te?t/

Verb

agitate (third-person singular simple present agitates, present participle agitating, simple past and past participle agitated)

1. (transitive) To disturb or excite; to perturb or stir up (a person). [from 16th c.]

2. (transitive) To cause to move with a violent, irregular action; to shake. [from 16th c.]
   • 1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford

     It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To set in motion; to actuate. [16th–18th c.]
4. (transitive, now rare) To discuss or debate. [from 16th c.]
   • 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men:

     Your speech at the time a bill for the regency was agitated now lies before me.

5. (transitive, now rare) To revolve in the mind, or view in all its aspects; to consider, to devise. [from 17th c.]

Synonyms

• (discuss actively): discuss, debate, canvass

• move, shake, excite, rouse, disturb, distract, revolve

Antonyms

• (stir up): appease, calm, quieten

Related terms

• agitation
• agitator
• agitatee
• agitable
• inagitable

Translations

Further reading

• agitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• agitate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• agitate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Esperanto

Adverb

agitate

1. present adverbial passive participle of agiti

Ido

Verb

agitate

1. adverbial present passive participle of agitar

Italian

Adjective

agitate f

1. feminine plural of agitato

Anagrams

• gattaie

Latin

Verb

agit?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of agit?

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin agitatus. Cognate with English agitate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??d??tet/

Verb

agitate (third-person singular present agitates, present participle agitatin, past agitatit, past participle agitate)

1. to agitate

References

• “agitate” in Eagle, Andy, editor, The Online Scots Dictionary^[1], 2016.

English

Etymology

From Middle English torment, from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum (“something operated by twisting”), from torquere (“to twist”).

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?t??(?)m?nt/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /t??(?)?m?nt/

Noun

torment (countable and uncountable, plural torments)

1. (obsolete) A catapult or other kind of war-engine.
2. Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture.
3. Any extreme pain, anguish or misery, either physical or mental.

   He was bitter from the torments of the divorce.

   • They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:pain

Derived terms

• tormentous

Translations

Verb

torment (third-person singular simple present torments, present participle tormenting, simple past and past participle tormented)

1. (transitive) To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but weaker than to torture.)

   The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.

   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "Man City 4-1 Man Utd", BBC Sport, 22 September 2013:

     Moyes, who never won a derby at Liverpool in 11 years as Everton manager, did not find the Etihad any more forgiving as City picked United apart in midfield, where Toure looked in a different class to United's £27.5m new boy Marouane Fellaini, and in defence as Aguero tormented Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.

Derived terms

• tormentor

Translations

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.

Noun

torment (plural torments)

1. torment (suffering, pain)

Descendants

• English: torment

Middle French

Alternative forms

• tourment

Etymology

From Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.

Noun

torment m (plural torments)

1. torment; suffering; anguish

Old French

Alternative forms

• turment

Etymology

From Latin tormentum.

Noun

torment m (oblique plural tormenz or tormentz, nominative singular tormenz or tormentz, nominative plural torment)

1. torture
2. (figuratively, by extension) suffering; torment

Descendants

• Middle English: torment (borrowing)
  • English: torment
• Middle French: torment, tourment
  • French: tourment

References

• “tourment” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin tormentum.

Noun

torment m (nominative singular torments)

1. suffering; torment

Descendants

• Catalan: turment
• Occitan: torment