Provoke
[prə'vəʊk] or [prə'vok]
Definition
(verb.) provide the needed stimulus for.
(verb.) evoke or provoke to appear or occur; 'Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple'.
Checker: Olivier--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
(v. i.) To cause provocation or anger.
(v. i.) To appeal. [A Latinism]
Typed by Dave
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Excite, stimulate, arouse, awaken, incite, move, kindle, inflame, animate, instigate, impel, stir up, work up.[2]. Exasperate, incense, enrage, chafe, anger, irritate, exacerbate, nettle, offend, affront, infuriate, give offence or umbrage to, put out, put out of humor, work into a passion, lash into fury, raise one's ire, raise one's dander, make one's blood boil, drive one mad.
Editor: Miles
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Educe, summon, rouse, irritate, excite, challenge, vex, impel, offend,exasperate, anger, tantalize
ANT:Allay, relegate, pacify, soothe, conciliate
Checker: Terrance
Definition
v.t. to call forth: to summon: to excite or call into action: to excite with anger: to offend: (B.) to challenge.—n. Provocā′tion act of provoking: that which provokes: any cause of danger.—adjs. Provoc′ative Provoc′atory tending to provoke or excite.—n. anything that stirs up or provokes.—n. Provoc′ativeness the quality of being provocative.—adj. Provō′kable.—ns. Provōke′ment (Spens.) provocation; Provō′ker one who or that which provokes causes or promotes.—adj. Provō′king irritating.—adv. Provō′kingly.—The provocation the sojourn of the Jews in the wilderness when they provoked God.
Typist: Wolfgang
Examples
- Herself, said Will, not indisposed to provoke the charming Mrs. Lydgate. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I do not provoke. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I won't provoke my betters with knowledge, thank you. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I was determined not to let him provoke me, for Laura Fairlie's sake. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Provoke it, the gypsy said. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I provoke thee for myself. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The wealth of the burghers never failed to provoke their envy and indignation, and they plundered them upon every occasion without mercy or remorse. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He provoked the military intervention of Rome. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- His poverty seems particularly to have provoked the scorn of Carlyle. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This provoked the Seventh Crusade, the Crusade of St. Louis, King of France (Louis IX), who was taken prisoner in Egypt and ransomed in 1250. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She was not sure of the nature of the emotions she had provoked. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Richard alone, as if he loved the danger his presence had provoked, rode slowly along the front of the Templars, calling aloud, What, sirs! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- This action of Adrian provoked me. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I was not dreaming, I said, with some warmth, for her brazen coolness provoked me. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Don't start when I chance to speak rather sharply; it's so provoking. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Thus did this provoking creature delight in teasing me, and the next half-hour he would seem passionately devoted to me. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Moreover, at this instant, I had good reason to believe the provoking little reptile was actually in the arms of some frail, very frail, French woman. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I have no time to reason with you now; but I consider you provoking. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You are very cruel, said her sister, you will not let me smile, and are provoking me to it every moment. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- No introduction of the business could have been less like that which Lydgate had intended; but her indifferent manner had been too provoking. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- If I am ever a little provoking, I am sure you'll consider what a thing it is to occupy my position and feel a consciousness of being superior to it. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
Inputed by Fidel