DictionaryAI

provoke

verb
Saypruh-VOHK/pɹəˈvoʊk/UK/pɹəˈvəʊk/AUS/pɹəˈvəʉk/

Formsprovokes, provoking, provoked

3 meanings of provoke

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To call forth or bring about a particular reaction or response.

    Such sweeping policies tend to provoke debate among economists.

    The unfinished painting provoked surprise in everyone who saw it.

    Similarincite, instigate, spark, excite, goad

    Oppositestifle, suppress, prevent

    Note

    Here the object is usually the response itself: you provoke debate, laughter or a reaction, not a person. Compare the anger meaning, which targets someone. The passive bridges the two, as when BBC Sport reported in 2011 that "Spain were provoked into a response." The response need not be hostile. John Burroughs uses it for what a poem provokes in the soul.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To arouse annoyance or anger in someone.

    The protesters tried to provoke the officers into a reaction.

    His mocking tone provoked her more than the insult itself.

    Similarannoy, irritate, bother, exasperate, antagonize

    Oppositecalm, soothe, placate, pacify

    Note

    The oldest pattern names the feeling after to: the King James Bible of 1611 warns "provoke not your children to wrath." Today into plus a reaction is more common (provoked them into a fight). The verb was borrowed from Middle French provoquer, which comes from Latin prōvocāre. That Latin verb also gave English the rarer doublet provocate.

  3. 3
    verbobsolete
    To make a formal appeal, as to a higher court or superior authority.
    Even Arius and Pelagius durst provoke To what the centuries preceding spoke.
    [1682], [John] Dryden, Religio Laici or A Laymans Faith. A Poem
    Note

    A dead use that can trip up modern readers. In older texts, provoke to an authority means to appeal to it, not to anger it. Dryden writes in Religio Laici (1682) that even Arius and Pelagius "durst provoke / To what the centuries preceding spoke," calling on earlier tradition to judge them. Read it this way in period texts, but never use it in modern writing.

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Origin

Borrowed from Middle French 'provoquer', which came through Old French from Latin 'prōvocāre'. It is a doublet of 'provocate'.