the.com/agitated
the body's smoke alarm going off before the brain finds the fire
means Stirred into a state of restless, anxious unease — too churned-up inside to sit still or think calmly.
from From Latin 'agitare,' to set in motion, drive, or stir up — itself a frequentative of 'agere,' to drive or do. So the same root that powers 'act' and 'agent' here means relentless, repeated motion: not just moving, but being driven again and again. English took it in the 1500s for things literally shaken or churned, and the inner weather sense — a mind tossed about like water — followed naturally.
- washing machines
- agitators twist clothes clean by deliberate violence
- root word
- from Latin agitare, to drive or set in motion
- chemistry trick
- stirring speeds reactions by forcing molecules to collide
- body tells
- pacing and fidgeting burn off adrenaline with nowhere to go
- protest origin
- political agitators literally meant to shake the status quo