stir

CEFRB1

/stɜː/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To move a liquid or substance around with a spoon.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To emotionally affect; to touch, to move.

Examples

  • I like pea pods in my stir fry.

  • Stir the mixture until it foams, then set it aside.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /steː/
  • /stɪr/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.

  2. To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it.

  3. To incite to action.

More examples

In context

  • Stir the sauce constantly so that it does not separate.

  • He stirred his coffee so the sugar wouldn't stay at the bottom.

  • She stirred the pudding with a spoon.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She used a spoon to blank the soup slowly while it was cooking.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English stiren, sturien, steren, from Old English styrian (“to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble”), from Proto-Germanic *sturiz (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), related to Proto-West Germanic *staurijan (“to destroy, disturb”). Cognate with Old Norse styrr (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), German stören (“to disturb”), Dutch storen (“to disturb”).