Provoke

Definition: Provoke

Provoke

Verb

1. Call forth; of emotions, feelings, and responses; "arouse pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy".

2. Call forth; "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the couple".

3. Provide the needed stimulus for.

4. Annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "provoke" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Provoke \Pro*voke"\, transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Provoked; Provoking.]. (references)

Synonyms: Provoke

Aggravation

Verb: aggravate, render worse, heighten, embitter, sour; exacerbate; exasperate, envenom; enrage, provoke, tease.

Cause

Procure, induce, draw down, open the door to, superinduce, evoke, entail, operate; elicit, provoke.

Desire

Cause desire, create desire, raise desire, excite desire, provoke desire; appetize, titillate, allure, attract, take one's fancy, tempt; hold out temptation, hold out allurement; tantalize, make one's mouth water, faire venir l'eau a la bouche.

Excitation

Verb: excite, affect, touch, move, impress, strike, interest, animate, inspire, impassion, smite, infect; stir the blood, fire the blood, warm the blood; set astir; wake, awake, awaken; call forth; evoke, provoke; raise up, summon up, call up, wake up, blow up, get up, light up; raise; get up the steam, rouse, arouse, stir; fire, kindle, enkindle, apply the torch, set on fire, inflame.

Hate

Excite hatred, provoke hatred; Noun: be hateful; Adjective: stink in the nostrils; estrange, alienate, repel, set against, sow dissension, set by the ears, envenom, incense, irritate, rile; horrify; roil.

Motive

Stimulate; (excite); spirit up, inspirit; rouse, arouse; animate, incite, foment, provoke, instigate, set on, actuate;act upon, work upon, operate upon; encourage; pat on the back, pat on the shoulder, clap on the back, clap on the shoulder.

Pain

Irritate, provoke, sting, nettle, try the patience, pique, fret, rile, tweak the nose, chafe, gall; sting to the quick, wound to the quick, cut to the quick; aggrieve, affront, enchafe, enrage, ruffle, sour the temper; give offense; (resentment).

Intolerable, insufferable, insupportable; unbearable, unendurable; past bearing; not to be borne, not to be endured; more than flesh and blood can bear; enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot.

Resentment

Cause anger, raise anger; affront, offend; give offense, give umbrage; anger; hurt the feelings; insult, discompose, fret, ruffle, nettle, huff, pique; excite; irritate, stir the blood, stir up bile; sting, sting to the quick; rile, provoke, chafe, wound, incense, inflame, enrage, aggravate, add fuel to the flame, fan into a flame, widen the breach, envenom, embitter, exasperate, infuriate, kindle wrath; stick in one's gizzard; rankle &e.; hit on the raw, rub on the raw, sting on the raw, strike on the raw.

Crosswords: Provoke

I am constantly surprised that women's hats do not provoke more murders (Witness for the Prosecution; writing credit: Agatha Christie; Larry Marcus)

Don't provoke me (True Grit; writing credit: Charles Portis; Marguerite Roberts)

Angel, a monument to unholy carnality, and a cesspool of marital pollution, a shameless, brazen, bulldozing female prepared to humiliate, provoke, and tantalize, savagely seeking the tranquilizer of unrestrained fulfillment (Good Morning... and Goodbye!; writing credit: Jack Moran)

Then provoke him, if that's going to satisfy your scruples (Funeral in Berlin; writing credit: Len Deighton; Evan Jones)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Moral Victories: How Activists Provoke Multilateral Action (reference)

• Provoke God with Your Giving (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Survival Research Laboratories: The Will to Provoke (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Better (To Provoke a Reaction Than to Re [IMPORT] (reference)

• Provoke [IMPORT] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

It was sure to attract attention and provoke envy and demand for one like it. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Cold temperatures are more likely to provoke an attack when the individual is physically or emotionally stressed. (references)

Although several factors provoke allergic responses, scientists know that heredity is a major influence on who will develop an allergy. (references)

Evidence indicates that leukocytes, present in routinely prepared platelet concentrates, provoke HLA-antibody formation more readily than platelets. (references)

Civil Liberties

Lebanon

The prosecutor claimed that the statement could provoke attacks against the country. (references)

Guyana

The Police Commissioner has the authority to refuse permission for a public meeting if he believes that it may provoke a breach of the peace. (references)

Djibouti

Some opposition leaders effectively practiced self-censorship and, rather than provoke a government crackdown, refrained from organizing popular demonstrations. (references)

Economic History

Egypt

Nasser's foreign and military policies helped provoke the Israeli attack of June 1967 that virtually destroyed Egypt's armed forces along with those of Jordan and Syria. (references)

Cote D'ivoire

Wage rates are relatively high by regional standards, but costs of capital goods, transport, and energy are also high; it is therefore not obvious that high labor costs provoke overspending on labor-saving technology. (references)

Indigenous People

Honduras

Failure to obtain legal redress frequently causes indigenous groups to attempt to regain land through invasions of private property, which usually provoke the authorities into retaliating forcefully. (references)

Worker Rights

Oman

The law stipulates that "it is absolutely forbidden to provoke a strike for any reason." Labor unrest is rare. (references)

Indonesia

The military also employs baiting tactics: infiltrating workers' ranks and encouraging protests or worker actions, and in some cases attempting to provoke a violent worker action, to which the military then forcefully responds. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

To provoke

Expressions using "provoke": enough to provoke a saint ♦ provoke an incident. Additional references.

Albanian

provokoj (tempt), zgjoj (arouse, awake, exalt, innervate, produce, quicken, rouse, waken, whet), zemëroj (anger, annoy, enrage, fret, huff, incense, irritate, offend, vex), nxit (abet, actuate, arouse, begrime, bring, dare, dispose, egg on, encourage, enkindle, exhort, fan, fillip, foment, galvanize, goad, heat, impel, incendiarism, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, motivate, move, prod, prompt, push, quicken, stimulate, stir up, urge, whet, whip, whip up, work up), nxis (abet, actuate, animate, arouse, begrime, bring, challenge, dare, dispose, drive, egg on, encourage, enkindle, exhort, fan, fillip, foment, galvanize, goad, heat, impel, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, motivate, move, prod, prompt, push, quicken, stimulate, stir up, urge, whet, whip, whip up, work up), ngacmoj (annoy, badger, banter, bedevil, bother, chaff, chip, dare, excite, guy, harass, Harrow, Harry, irritate, jolly, molest, monkey, nag, nettle, rag, rally, ruffle, tamper, tease), irritoj (acerbate, displease, exasperate, frustrate, inflame). (various references)

Arabic 

‏غيظ (anger, annoy, chafe, embitter, fret, gall, incense, infuriate, ire, irritate, madden, nettle, offend, peeve, pique, rage, resentment, rib, rile, ruffle, scandalize, spite, twit, vex, wrath), ‏غضب (aggravate, anger, annoy, be angry, be irritated, chafe, crab, dander, displease, embitter, enrage, exasperate, exasperation, fire, flounce, fret, fume, gall, get on his nerves, get smb.'s goat, go mad, grumpiness, harrow, heat, incense, indignation, inflame, infuriate, irascibility, ire, irritate, irritation, itch, jitter, lose one's shirt, mad, madden, miff, nettle, offend, outcry, outrage, peeve, pet, pique, pout, rage, resentment, rile, rough, ruffle, seethe, soreness, sour, spite, spleen, twit, vex), ‏حث (actuate, admonish, debriefing, dub, encourage, encouragement, goad, gun, hurry, impel, incitation, incite, induce, induce to speak, inducement, interest, motivate, motivation, motive, persuade, precipitate, press, prod, prompt, prompting, propel, provocation, push on, recommend, rouse, solicit, solicitation, spur, stimulate, stimulation, stir, tempt), ‏حرض (abet, egg on, flesh, foment, incite, instigate, motive, rouse, set, spark, stir, suborn), ‏تحرش (arousal, provocation), ‏إستفز (excite), ‏أحدث (breed, brew, bring, bring forth, create, crop, effect, enact, engender, generate, give rise to, hatch, induce, inspire, make, mother, proceed, progress, send forth, supervene, wreck). (various references)

Bulgarian 

възбуждам (actuate, agitate, arouse, engage, enkindle, excite, ferment, heat, inflame, irritate, key up, pique, raise, set up, stimulate, sting, stir, thrill, turn on), будя (arouse, awake, call, evoke, raise, wake), провокирам (instigate), предизвиквам (arouse, bring, bring on, dare, defy, elicit, engender, fly in the face of, give birth, give rise to, give to rise, induce, instigate, invite, outbrave, pick, raise, rouse, set up, shape up, sow, stump, throw out a challenge, touch off, urge, work up), пораждам (beget, breed, call forth, cause, engender, evoke, gender, generate, give birth, give rise to, give to rise, originate, produce, prompt, raise, sow, start up, stir), подстрекавам (abet, egg on, fanaticize, incite, instigate, key up, needle, set on, sow, string up, suborn, work up), подтиквам (actuate, fillip, goad, help forward, hypo, impel, incite, inspire, invigorate, invite, move, prod, prompt, resolve, spur, stir up, urge on), подбуждам (abet, actuate, excite, foment, galvanize, incite, instigate, motivate, prod, prompt, raise, urge on), дразня (annoy, bait, bosh, bugger about, bullyrag, burn up, dig, exacerbate, fetch, fray, fuss, gall, gravel, gripe, harass, irritate, jar, jive, mad, madden, nag, niggle, nip, offend, peeve, pinprick, piss off, play up, rag, rasp, rib, ride, rile, rub, spite, tease, titillate, try, twit, vex, worry). (various references)

Chinese 

挑衅 (Provoked, Provoking), 挑舋 , 招 (to recruit), 使憤�' , 刺激 (irritate). (various references)

Czech

provokovat (heckle), popudit (incense, irritate, nettle, pique), podnítit (galvanize, prompt, quicken), vydráždit. (various references)

Danish

udfordre (challenge, defy, incite). (various references)

Dutch

ophitsen (abet, agitate, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up), irriteren (abet, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up), aanstoken (abet, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up). (various references)

Esperanto

provoki (defy, incite), inciti (abet, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up). (various references)

Faeroese

arga (abet, carp at, excite, haze, incite, quibble, rouse, stimulate, stir up), øsa (abet, agitate, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up). (various references)

Farsi 

تحریک کردن (Actuate, Agitate, Annoy, Arouse, Bestir, Edge, Egg, Excite, Fuel, Ginger, Goad, Hypo, Incense, Incite, Instigate, Motivate, Move, Pique, Prick, Prime, Stimulate), خشمگین کردن (Aggravate, Anger, Annoy, Enrage, Ensnare, Exasperate, Incense, Irritate, Tar, Vex), دامن زدن , برافروختن (Glow, Inflame, Kindle, Overheat, Relume), برانگیختن (Abet, Act, Actuate, Arouse, Evince, Exacerbate, Exasperate, Excite, Heat, Impulse, Infuse, Instigate, Irritate, Nettle, Prod, Prompt, Roust, Sick, Whet). (various references)

Finnish

ärsyttää (abet, agitate, excite, incite, irritate, rouse, stimulate, stir up, tease). (various references)

French

provoquer (procure, produce), irriter. (various references)

Frisian

oansjasje (abet, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up), oanhysje (abet, cheer, encourage, excite, fire, impel, incite, inspire, instigate, rouse, spur on, stimulate, stir up, urge). (various references)

German

reizen (abet, aggravate, annoy, appeal, bid, bidden, bidding, excite, incite, irritate, irritation, itch, peeve, pique, rile, rouse, stimulate, stir up, tease, tempt, to irritate, to pique), provozieren, herausfordern (abet, challenge, court, defy, encourage, evoke, impel, instigate, invite, spur on, stimulate, to challenge, to defy, urge), aufreizen (abet, excite, goad, incite, madden, rouse, stimulate, stir up). (various references)

Greek 

προκαλώ (beget, bring about, bring on, call forth, call out, cause, challenge, dare, defy, engender, evoke, fetch, give rise to, induce). (various references)

Hebrew 

לק� טר (anger, chide, nag, rebuke, tease, vex), ל�"קציף (froth, infuriate), ל�"ק� יט (annoy, irritate, molest, peeve, spite, tease, vex), ל�"ר�'יז (aggravate, annoy, displease, enrage, incense, madden, miff, molest, needle, offend, peeve, rile, ruffle, spite, vex). (various references)

Hungarian

provokál (to challenge, to provoke), elõidéz (bring about, bring forth, cause, evoke, give rise to, induce), dühösít. (various references)

Indonesian

menggusarkan, mengacum (instigate, to incite), membangkitkan (arouse, evore, generate), memancing (fish, fishing, sniggle, start something). (various references)

Irish

saighid (incite). (various references)

Italian

spronare (abet, excite, goad, incite, rouse, spur, stimulate, stir, stir up), incitare (abet, animate, egg, embolden, excite, goad, hound, impel, incite, lash, prompt, rouse, spur, stimulate, sting, stir, stir up, tempt). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

離�"策 (scheme to provoke discord or alienation), 火が付く (to be ignited, to catch fire, to catch fire from, to provoke), 吹っ掛ける (to blow upon, to overcharge, to provoke). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ひがつく (to be ignited, to catch fire, to catch fire from, to provoke), ふっかける (to blow upon, to overcharge, to provoke), りか�"さく (scheme to provoke discord or alienation). (various references)

Korean 

도발하십시�". (various references)

Manx

greesaghey (abet, accelerate, agitate, drive, egg on, excitation, excite, excitement, fire, fire enthusiasm, foment, fomentation, foster, incentive, incite, instigate, instigation, press, prod, provocation, stir, stir up), caulgaghey (exasperate). (various references)

Pig Latin

ovokepray.(various references)

Portuguese

provocar (abet, add fuel to, aggravate, arouse, bring, bring on, cause, cause to take place, challenge, court, defy, egg, egg on, excite, gall, generate, incite, induce, infuse, instigate, invite, nettle, occasion, pick, raise, rattle, rouse, solicit, start, stimulate, stir up, waken). (various references)

Romanian

provoca (abet, agitate, bring, bring on, bring to pass, call forth, cause, challenge, create, dare, defy, elicit, encourage, excite, fling down the gauntlet, give, give rise to, impel, incite, induce, instigate, invite, raise, rouse, spur on, start, stimulate, stir, stir up, throw down the gauntlet, urge, work up). (various references)

Russian 

сердить (anger, disgruntle, displease, incense, rile, vex), спровоцировать, вызывать (bring, bring about, bring forth, call, call in, challenge, cite, conjure, engender, entail, evoke, evoked, exert, give rise to, induce, involve, produce, ring for, summon, whistle up), провоцировать (instigate), побуждать (actuate, determine, excite, goad, impel, incite, induce, instigate, invite, motivate, prompt, resolve, spirit, spurred, stimulate). (various references)

Scottish

buair (annoy, disturb, tempt, vex). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

provocirati (have a go at), zametnuti (start), izazivati (dare, evoke, hector, outbrave, outdare), dražiti (bait, stimulate). (various references)

Spanish

provocar (bring, draw, drive, elicit, fuel, goad, goad on, incite, induce, needle, nettle, promote, set up, throw up, touch off, trigger, whip), instigar (abet, activate, cause, excite, give rise to, incite, initiate, instigate, rouse, start, stimulate, stir up). (various references)

Swedish

reta (aggravate, anger, bait, exasperate, excite, fret, gall, get, irk, irritate, nark, rag, ruffle, tantalise, tantalize, taunt, tease, twit, vex), framkalla (arouse, bring about, call forth, call up, cause, develop, elicit, engender, evoke, excite, fetch, induce, invite, prompt, recall, set up), förtörna (offend), förarga (aggravate, anger, annoy, disgruntle, displease, exasperate, huff, irk, irritate, peeve, vex). (various references)

Turkish

uyandırmak (arouse, awake, awaken, call, disabuse, disabuse of, evoke, excite, inspire, kindle, knock up, quicken, recall, revive, rouse, rouse up, spark, stir, stir up, undeceive, wake, wake up, waken, whet), tahrik etmek (agitate, egg, egg on, excite, fan, ferment, hound, hound on, incite, instigate, irritate, jockey into, move, rough the wrong way, rouse, seduce, solicit, stimulate, sting, stir up, turn on, whet, whip up, wind up, work up), sebep olmak (cause, induce, inspire), neden olmak (beget, bring, bring about, bring along, call forth, cause, conduce, cost, create, determine, do, draw on, encompass, engender, excite, give rise to, incline, invite, originate, procure, produce, raise, touch off, trigger), kızdırmak (aggravate, anger, annoy, badger, bait, bug, burn, chafe, enrage, exacerbate, exasperate, gall, get across, get in one's hair, heat, heat up, huff, incense, inflame, infuriate, irritate, nettle, overheat, peeve, play to, put about, put out, put smb. out of temper, put smb.'s nose out of joint, rile, rough the wrong way, rouse, ruffle smb.'s temper, steam up, superheat, tease, twit, vex), kızıştırmak (envenom, escalate, heat, heat up, incite, warm up), kışkırtmak (agitate, antagonize, defy, egg, egg on, excite, fan the flame, ferment, foment, ginger, ginger up, goad, goad on, hound, hound on, incite, inflame, instigate, jockey into, lash, prod, rouse, set on, solicit, sting, stir up, tempt, warm up, whip up), alevlendírmek (abet, excite, incite, rouse, stimulate, stir up), üstüne varmak (bear down on, get at, lean upon, press smb. close), çıkarmak (bare, belch, blank, bring out, bruit about, deduct, delete, derive, disconnect, dislocate, dislodge, dismantle, displace, divest, doff, draw off, draw out, drive out, drop, educe, eject, elicit, eliminate, emit, enact, enucleate, evolve, exclude, excogitate, excrete, exhale, exhaust, expel, expunge, extract, extricate, extrude, exude, foot, foot up, give forth, give off, haul up, hawk, issue, let out, make out, omit, order off, order out, oust, out, pay off, present, print out, publish, pull off, put off, put out, put up, reject, remove, rest, rout out, rout up, rule out, scratch, shoot out, slip off, spew forth, spew out, spew up, spit, start, stick out, strike, strike off, strike through, strip, strip off, subtract, take, take from, take off, take out, throw off, throw out, tide over, touch off, uncase, unfix, vent, void, vomit, winkle out, wipe out, wipe up, work out, wreak). (various references)

Ukrainian

сердити (aggravate, anger, annoy, exasperate, nettle, rile, roil), спонукати (abet, actuate, cause, excite, impel, impulse, induce, motivate, motive, prick, prod, prompt, push on, rouse, set off, spur, urge), викликати (arouse, bring forth, bring on, call, call in, cause, challenge, champion, cite, create, defy, evoke, necessitate, procure, send for, send up, set smb. agog, stir up, strike, summon, touch off, wake, warn, whistle up), збуджувати (actuate, agitate, amove, animate, arouse, electrify, elevate, exalt, excite, flurry, flush, incite, innervate, key up, kindle, pique, stimulate, tense, thrill, wake, whet, wind up, work up), провокувати (instigate, work up). (various references)

Welsh

profocio (badger, banter, tease), cythruddo (annoy, irritate), cyffroi (actuate, agitate, arouse, bestir, disturb, excite, move, stir). (various references)

commota, commotae, commotaque, commoti, commotis, commotum, commotus, commoveantur, commoveat, commoveatur, commovebantur, commovebit, commovebitur, commovebo, commovebor, commovebuntur, commovendum, commoventes, commoventur, commovere, commoveretur, commoveri, commoverit, commoverunt, commovet, commovi, commovisti, commovit, conciti, concito, inritabo, inritandum, inritantes, inritare, inritarent, inritares, inritaret, inritat, inritatus, inritaverunt, inritavit, inritetis, irrita, irritas, lacessentes, moram, moras, more, moris, morisque, moro, mose, mota, motae, moti, motio, motu, motum, motus, moveamini, movearis, moveat, moveatur, movebant, movebantur, movebatur, movebit, movebitur, movebo, movebor, movebunt, movebuntur, movemini, movemur, movenda, movens, movent, moventes, moventur, movere, moverem, moverentur, moveret, moveri, moveris, moverit, moverunt, moveruntque, moves, movete, movetur, movissent, movit, provocabant, provocabat, provocabit, provocabo, provocandam, provocans, provocant, provocantes, provocare, provocarent, provocares, provocaretis, provocas, provocassent, provocasti, provocastis, provocat, provocatrix, provocatum, provocaverat, provocaveris, provocaveritis, provocaverunt, provocavi, provocavimus, provocavit, provocem, provocet, provocetis. (various references)

tanter, tenter. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "provoke": provoked, provoker, provokers, provokes. (additional references)

Words containing "provoke": unprovoked. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Provoke" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Pococke, porvo, pravice, prevoke, prikope, Prosobee, provice, provoc, provoce, provocer, provock, provok, provote. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: poker, poove, prove.

-3 letters: kore, over, perk, poke, poor, pore, pork, repo, rook, rope, rove.

-4 letters: kep, kop, kor, oke, ope, ore, per, pro, rep, rev, roe, voe.

-5 letters: er, oe, op, or, pe, re.

+1 letter: provoked, provoker, provokes.

+2 letters: provokers.

+3 letters: unprovoked.