All Words > Agita

illustration Agita

Agita

[a-jee-tə]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Italian, 1980s

1.

Nervousness or agitation

2.

Anxiety

3.

Indigestion or stomach discomfort

Examples of Agita in a sentence

"A feeling of agita overcame me as the storm clouds rolled in."

"I don't know whether it was anxiety or something I ate, but I felt a great deal of agita in the pit of my stomach."

About Agita

Agita, or a feeling of nervousness or anxiety, was first used among New York City's population of Italian immigrants, which makes sense given its Italian-language origins. Similar words appear throughout that language, used to describe everything from music to emotions.

Did you Know?

Agita comes from an Americanized pronunciation of an Italian dialect word, acido, referring to acid or heartburn. However, its more figurative definition relating to anxiety is believed to have stemmed from the word agitation.

illustration Agita

Recent Words

What's the word?